Download - Fly Thomas Cook

As a regular visitor, Dave says the beauty of Gran
Canaria is that his wife can relax by the hotel pool
while he’s fishing, and they can still meet up for
dinner in the evening – which is exactly what our
family would be doing too after the outing.
Alex and Dani are the first to jump up when the
sun makes an appearance, their mood lifting with
the clouds. At our shoreside base, Derek points out
terrapins in what they affectionately call “the lake”,
whilst the equally hands-on David explains how
they prepare the homemade bait: “We soak tiger
nuts for 24 hours. They’re then boiled for an hour
and left to ferment for at least a week – although
the longer the better – along with hemp, maize
and peanuts.” The kids are a bit disappointed
not to have slimy worms and grubs to get stuck
into – and I can’t help but think how relieved my
squeamish wife would be if she were here with
us – but it’s not long before they’re using all their
might to throw handfuls of it as far as they can
into the water.
It turns out that carp fishing is a game of
patience. You’re not casting your rod manually
and standing up, ready to reel in fish after fish.
Instead, you set up the alarmed lines and are
able to relax and wait for the fish to take the bait.
It leaves me free to catch up with some holiday
reading in the glorious sunshine. I worry that the
boys might get bored, but they keep themselves
busy with guarding the bait against the local
ducks, who keep trying to take a peck at it.
Every now and again, the alarm goes off and
I resort to being a kid again myself, sometimes
jumping up in more excitement than Alex and
Dani. I start having visions of myself appearing
as an Angler’s Mail cover star with a huge catch,
following in the footsteps of EastEnders star Scott
Maslen – who caught a monster from the deep
on a fishing trip with the Carp Gran Canaria boys,
and declared it to be the best fishing holiday that
he’s ever had.
But it’s David, the owner, who’s the record
holder on the island. His 25.43kg common carp
took him an epic 45-minute struggle to land,
DAVID’S 25.43 KG COMMON CARP TOOK HIM AN EPIC 45 MINUTES TO LAND
HERE: DAVID,
CARP GRAN
CANARIA’S BIG
FISH, POSES WITH
‘ONE OF
THE FAMILY’;
BELOW: THE
ESSENTIAL
TACKLE BOX
HIT USHUAÏA’S
SKY LOUNGE TO
MINGLE WITH
A-LISTERS AND
GRAB THE BEST
VIEW IN TOWN
Gran Canaria
MAY.JUN.JUL 69