31.08.2015

Robin Illner between Canarian beauties

Tostedt. Radical team angler Robin Illner has just returned from a carp expedition in the Canary Islands. Three of the six main islands (Gran Canaria, La Gomera and Tenerife) can be targeted by carp anglers. Gran Canaria has more than 60 lakes, some of which are private and others available to the public. Almost all of the lakes contain carp and black bass. The local anglers also fish these waters, although their focus is more on sea fishing. Over a period of a week, Robin Illner, his friend Jörg Krause and cameraman Peter Corzilius filmed a road-trip movie about the southernmost carp in Europe. The objective was to catch the unique carp living in the islands with their characteristic scale patterns.
Here is Robin's glowing report: "It was one of the toughest trips I have ever known, but what I experienced exceeded all of my expectations. As well as common carp and mirror carp, we caught fully-scaled, apple-slice-scaled, linears and ghosties. We landed more than 45 fish of up to 40lb during one week. Our most successful baits for large fish in the feeding grounds were large baits, such as Radical Rubby Dubby and Radical Bloody Chicken boilies as 24mm sinkers, topped with 20mm pop-ups." Both anglers fed with maize, maize meal, pellets and boilies.
With no bankside trees on the volcanic slopes and temperatures of over 40 degrees, both the anglers and equipment were subjected to the highest stresses. Beneath the surface, the anglers were confronted with a landscape of sunken trees, debris and expanses of weed, making the use of heavy tackle unavoidable. They had to improvise every day. Fishing permits were not available on the first day, luggage was withheld by customs and wild dogs ran through the campsite. Leeches attached themselves to the anglers' legs, stomachs and backs during dives but dropping the rigs in the thick weed yielded carp time after time.
Everything that went wrong at the outset and how this phenomenal adventure unfolded will be the subject of Robin Illner's new DVD "Canarian Beauties", which comes out at the end of the year. Further information will be available in the near future at www.robinillner.de and on his Facebook page: www.facebook.de/robinIllner1