04.06.2018

Illner catches personal record in France

Tostedt. This spring, Radical test angler Robin Illner decided to target monster carp on large, shallow waters in northern France. His objective was clear from the outset. He wanted to land a carp of 25 kg (55 lb). The experienced angler’s chosen baits for the task were tiger nuts and dried 20 and 24 mm Rastafari boilies and Yellow Zombie boilies (both from Radical). “Sweet and bright baits particularly stand out and attract fish quickly. Fishmeal baits, on the other hand, are my preferred choice for long-term feeding grounds,” says Illner.
 
Illner tested one of the large lakes for a weekend: “The lake was uncharted territory for me and huge at way over 700 hectares.” However, on his very first session, he landed a fully-scaled specimen weighing 23 kg. Following this early success, Illner returned to the vast reservoir a week later with team colleagues Jörg Krause and Alexander Zirkler. The results after five days of fishing were outstanding. Zirkler caught three carp weighing over 20 kg (20.2 kg, 21 kg, 22.4 kg) and Illner landed a further three carp of 22.2 kg, 25.2 kg and 28.2 kg.
 
“Everything I caught ended in ‘point two’,” says Illner with a grin. “The 28.2 kg mirror (62 lb 4 oz) was also my new record carp in France after I landed a 28 kg+ carp in Germany in October.” It was the right strategy, preparation and the excellent Radical baits that made these catches possible as he and his friends proved. “We caught carp up until the last minute. As I was bringing in the last rod, the line was torn from my fingers while I was still in the boat. A bite! The result: 22.2 kg. We knew exactly where the big fish were feeding and had the key to avoiding the many catfish and bream: 24 mm boilies with 20 mm pop-ups in sweet flavours! An awesome trip!”