Irrespective of whether you are big, small, regularly work out, or prefer to veg out, if you are lucky, then one day you will find yourself in a fishing situation that will leave you saying 'enough is enough'. We all have our physical limitations, and whether it be one individual fish that's tests you to the limit, or sheer weight of numbers, that barrier is out there somewhere for all of us to try and cross. I've been lucky, if you can call it that, by coming face to face with my barrier on a number of fronts. Shark fishing from the beach in Namibia was a shore fishing bruiser when we were faced with dozens of Bronze Whaler Sharks going to well over 200 pounds over 5 consecutive days. From the boat it was struggling to haul a 900 pound Six Gilled Shark up from the bottom almost 2,000 feet below the boat, and on the game fishing scene, the day when Dave Devine and I shared a catch of 104 Rainbow Trout on a 4 hour ticket. I actually gave up well before he did on that one. But despite having caught Nile Perch, Tigerfish and White Sturgeon, nothing in coarse fishing had ever given me that feeling of 'right, that's it, I can't physically take anymore'. Nothing that was until I booked a trip with Fish Thailand for a crack at Bungsamran Lake in the suburbs of Bangkok.

At 20 acres, Bungsamran is not huge by any standards, though many of the fish it is home to most certainly are. This is an intensively stocked water well loaded with Mekong Giant Catfish in the 30 to 50 pound bracket. There are bigger fish and there are other species too. The biggest Carp ever caught in the world at a mind blowing 264 pounds came from here. But even that pales into insignificance compared to some of the lakes other inhabitants. Anglers (myself included) have seen Amazonian Arapaima, which are air breathers, rolling on the surface that would comfortably have well topped 400 pounds. Unfortunately these fish are no longer an angling option due to un-acceptable fatalities caused by in-appropriate handling in the past. The thing is that unlike Mekong Giant Catfish and Siamese Giant Carp, Arapaima are fish feeders, which with only a few of them left in a lake bursting at the seams with bite sized Tilapia can mean only one thing. The Carp and the Mekong Cats can very easily be fished for in ways that are never going to appeal to a big Arapaima, which surprised me, as I hadn't even considered the fact that the Mekong Catfish with such a colossal growth potential might be anything other than a predator too.

Despite claims to the contrary, it is the Mekong Giant Catfish and not the Arapaima that is officially the biggest true freshwater fish species on the planet. Forget freshwater Stingrays and giant Sturgeon, both of which grow bigger and are caught in freshwater too, because they also need to spend some part of their lives at sea, and as such are not true freshwater fish. With an authenticated specimen weighing in at 646 pounds taken commercially in 2005 from the Mekong River, this fish is, for the moment at least, the daddy of them all. But when I think about it, I shouldn't really have been that surprised to discover it feeds on plankton and aquatic vegetation. Some Whales, Whale Sharks and Basking Sharks which also grow to huge proportions are also planktonic feeders, and on land it's the veggies such as Elephants, Rhino's and Buffalo that are the giants. Even the biggest dinosaurs such as the Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus were herbivores. From the reports I have seen, the biggest Mekong Cats from Bungsamran have taken the scales down way past 100 Kg, a fish which I have to say based on the fighting capabilities of fish in the 40 to 50 pound bracket, I would really rather not have to do business with. I'll leave that 'pleasure' to those with more masochistic tendencies than myself.

Based on personal experiences, in my opinion, the Mekong Giant Catfish is by a very wide margin in a league of its own when it comes to handing out angler punishment. Not so much in the early stages of the encounter, though that is tough enough. In some ways perhaps Bungsamran is unique in getting its fish to fight harder than might otherwise be the case in more natural settings by allowing them to show-case their powerful never say die abilities in a much better way than on a piece of water with a typically more gradually sloping margin or bank, as you are fishing here from a platform on legs with relatively deep water right at your feet creating a situation comparable to boat fishing where a fish can dive down right under your feet. Under those circumstances, I would compare the fight of a typical Mekong Cat to that of a Giant Trevally or Tuna of similar size, which for those who have not yet experienced either of those fish before would be comparable to dangling a line from a motorway bridge and latching on to a passing truck. It's going to be taxing, its going to be physically very hard work, and you are going to get a mauling, on top of which at times, the moment you have finished fighting one fish, there will immediately be another one to deal with, followed by another, and if you really unlucky yet more. I did three on the trot with not even enough time for a swig of water between them. The only way out of it when they really go on the feed is not to bother casting in, which is something I never thought I would ever willingly agree to.

Bungsamran is like no other freshwater venue I have come across before. Running more or less up the middle of the lake is a covered walkway with tables and chairs for anglers buying the economy tickets to fish from, allowing them access to both portions of the lake. The banking of the smaller side of the walkway split is not fished, whereas the margins of the larger section are edged with purpose built open fronted bungalows with angling platforms actually over the water on legs. I suppose the nearest comparison would be a permanent luxury bivvie. To the rear of the bungalows following the shape of the lake is a raised wooden walkway, again on legs, used for access to the doors of the bungalows and a toilet block. This is also used by a chap on a push bike at lunch time who delivers pre-ordered hot meals. Mine was prawn fried rice and it was excellent. As already mentioned, each bungalow has its own fishing platform, along with hand washing facilities, a raised relaxation area with cushions, and a roof fan. Understandably, these cost more to fish than the central walk way. But you do get your own private swim. Both situations do of course produce the goods. It's just a case of personal preference and comfort.

I did my fishing under the guidance of Fish Thailand MD Eddie Mounce and his top guide Alley. Even as we were walking around to our bungalow, huge fish were topping all over the surface of the lake. The trick is to channel that attention to just in front of your fishing platform and keep them there, which relies on what for me at least as a non coarse angler was quite a novel and interesting technique. The secret to attracting, holding and catching these huge fish all revolves around a product known locally as Lam (pronounced Ram), and a stepped up version of the method feeder fished from a big fixed spool reel loaded with heavy braid attached to a powerful rod. Lam is a kind of rough flour made from ground rice husks, which, when mixed with just the right amount of water, forms a fairly dry but durable paste. A grapefruit sized ball is then formed around the coil of the method feeder with the hook hanging just clear of the bait which should be capable of casting long range without disintegrating while in flight into water averaging between 20 and 25 feet. The technique is to set the method feeder up under a large sliding float with its stopper set at around mid depth. The float isn't there as a bite indicator. It's only job is to suspend the ball of Lan which slowly disintegrates in the water to feed the swim as well as to offer itself as something for the big cats to grab hold of. You will see the float go under at times and can react to that. But the primary method of bite detection is a bait runner reel set to sound out as the spool rotates with a running fish. The thinking is that the ball of bait will slowly collapse into a bite sized lump. But in reality it doesn't seem to matter a damn, with some fishing taking the moment the bait went in.

Typically, most anglers fishing with Eddie get between 15 and 20 big cats per day,. If they fished harder that could very easy be more, unless of course you latch on to one of the three figure specimens which will inevitably sap up a whole lot more time and personal stamina. What often happens is that around lunch time, or not long after, with stamina levels beginning to waiver, particularly if its hot and humid, the will to carry on (by you not the guides – Alley in particular is something of an angling sadist) goes into sharp free fall. After the three rapid fire fish session which Alley was delighted to set me up for, I decided it was time for a walk around the lake to get some photographs. Actually, what I really needed was a break, so I made my way around to the refreshments area next to the huge tackle shop for a nice cold drink before slowly meandering my way back. Meanwhile, Alley had been keeping the swim going and was handing the rod to my wife Dawn who was looking rather worse for wear by the time got back. I was also shooting a video, so I needed some footage of setting up the baits, casting, and hooking up a fish, which I persuaded Alley to do, then carried on filming as he was forced to deal with it as much out of 'pay back' as the need for yet more angling footage.

Mekong Giant Cats are one of those fish where if you pull hard, they can and will pull harder. Despite giving it every last gram of energy you can muster, you still never quite feel totally in control. My shoulders, arms and neck ached on the day, never mind the next morning, and my calf muscles trembled every time I bent my legs to try to get some extra leverage, and even that was never enough. At times I don't know how I managed it. On the other hand, I'd flown all the way to Bangkok from Indonesia especially for it, so no time for whinging as there was a job to be done. Then, by a sheer stroke of good fortune, at around 4 in the afternoon, I finally hooked in to one fish that regardless of my efforts, I simply couldn't prevent from swimming between the bungalows, under the walkway, and around one of the support legs. There was no other option than to go for a break. But as soon as the line was back on the spool, Alley set about tackling the rod up again until I insisted that I genuinely didn't want any more. Enough was enough. I needed a sit down and a drink. Thank goodness I had finally managed to get through the day without hooking something ridiculously big.