I am writing one last time in the hope of establishing for the benefit of a great many carp fishermen the truth of the late Martin Gay’s truly astonishing carp captures in 1989 and 1990. Some may consider it too long ago for the matter to have any importance and I understand this. But to others the matter continues to evoke fury, embarrassment, outrage, admiration, suspicion and pleasure – depending on where one is positioned in the debate.
This past quarter of a century has seen argument and counter-argument aplenty with probably the majority of interested anglers coming down in favour of the non-believers. They will have joined this persuasion mainly on the strength of the Carp Society’s decree that non-carp specialist, Martin Gay’s 48lb common carp (plus 6 commons of over 30lb and many to upper 20s) were actually caught while he was on holiday in Canada. Martin, who died in 2002, always insisted they were caught in England and from an undiscovered ‘uncarpy’ water.
What follows is my explanation and that of my trusted friend, Eddie Benham – a man who had the foresight to keep tabs on the events at that time.
For me, further proof of Martin’s story is the statement under ‘Dates of Captures 1990’ by Ed Benham, below.
The Carp Society’s official, uncompromising stance on this issue was adopted on the strength of just one of their committee members who was shown the original photographs by Martin Gay. This chap would have suffered the same frustrations that a dozen very close friends – including myself – would have experienced on being denied the prolific water’s location. However, unlike those of us who accepted and respected Martin’s decision to keep the venue secret, the thwarted Carp Society man appears to have chosen to muddy the water – possibly unaware of the furore it would precipitate.
Understandably it was only the biggest specimen that concentrated peoples’ minds: 48lbs is enormous even now when we have any number of huge foreign monsters being pulled from lakes abroad and at home. But then, in 1989, such an English fish had even greater significance – it was just too big! But it was a fact.
Actually, the fish was at least 50lbs (yes, 50lbs) Martin told me and others that it bottomed-out a set of brand new 50lb scales with an estimated 2lbs to go – so it could well have weighed 52lbs! Martin explained that he couldn’t in all conscience claim 52lb because he didn’t know for sure, but also that he ‘couldn’t’ claim 50lbs because the figure was just too damned round and convenient! So he opted for 48lbs in the expectation of being more readily believed.
For publication purposes Martin cut out the backgrounds from the main display photographs, fully aware that the shots would receive the most intensive scrutiny from the UK’s fanatical carping fraternity. Those who saw the originals know that the backgrounds showed nothing more than grassy scrubland and a fence, but soon after Martin’s meeting with that one Carp Society committee man the photos somehow acquired a reputation for snow-capped mountains!
Astonishing it is then that I was very recently told in no uncertain terms by Carp Society official, Paul Selman (who has never seen the photos) that the blanked-out backgrounds were “in fact” of Lennox Power Station on the banks of Lake Ontario! He backed-up this claim with an anonymous quote from an un-named Canadian website. I therefore have absolutely no faith in its provenance. Anybody could have written it. And apart from that, I and 12 others SAW the originals!
According to Paul Selman of the Carp Society the fir-like sprig (above) is non-indigenous to the UK and proof that the shot was taken in Canada. What do you make of Paul’s botanical decree?
Not surprisingly, the equally frustrated and mystified Carp Society committee were at that time only too eager to accept their colleague’s word and to pass their ‘knowledge’ to the carp-fishing public; after all, they were the authoritative body! But Martin had seen all this coming so he made a special point of recording – and later publishing along with his highly detailed accounts in Coarse Angler magazine – the precise weather conditions for the southern half of the country at the time of his many outstanding captures. Eddie Benham has checked the UK Weather Archives and has found them to be spot-on.
Martin also made a point of showing the untouched shots to Chris Yates who subsequently told Anglers Mail of his faith in Martin’s word: ‘I am certain the lake is an English lake and his fish are true’. Neville Fickling, too, expressed his confidence that all the carp came from what he adjudged an English lake. And while providing no extra, concrete proof, it is worth noting that Martin also chose to confide in his friend, the universally respected Professor Barrie Rickards, and a well-known, respected fishery owner. But far more importantly than these references to well-known names, Martin simply would not have lied to friends of thirty years standing. We all spent fishing, social and family times with Martin and his wife, sometimes discussing the beauty of the Canadian Rockies…the wildlife…the food…the lifestyle – but never fish or fishing: he simply never fished in Canada!
This article explains how Martin saw a fish ‘which haunts him’…”I believe it weighs 60lbs”
Coarse Angler, Volume 14, no.8 (1990) shows a shot of a common carp (caught by Martin in that year from his undisclosed water) lying next to the ‘Clarissa’ built cane carp rod made by Alan Bramley in 1989 to mark the capture of Martin’s 50lber in that year. So according to the Carp Society Martin would have taken and fished with that precious, unique rod in Canada. Never-in-a-month-of-Sundays would Martin have entrusted such a special rod to the hold of a Boeing 737! That fish – and all the others – was caught fair and square in England!
See the built cane carp rod? It’s the totally unique ‘Clarissa’, made by Alan Bramley in 1989 to mark the capture of Martin’s huge English common carp in the same year. It was also used to bank a great many big fish from the same water in the following year. If the water was in Canada, do you suppose Martin would have entrusted this precious rod to the hold of a 737?
Further evidence is the rods depicted in all the other trophy shots: could you really buy a full cork-handled, 12ft carp-type rod and a Mitchell 300 from a tackle store ‘local to Lennox Power Station, Ontario’ as stated by Paul Selman? I think it an absurd notion; absurd as the easily disproved claim of ‘snow-peaked mountains in the backgrounds of the photos’! Even more absurd is the oft and eagerly quoted Carp Society claim that the small sprig to be seen in the foreground of one shot (the 50lber) is of a non-indigenous, foreign species – ‘proof’ therefore of the venue’s overseas location. This really is desperate stuff, isn’t it? And does anyone seriously believe a man of his credentials would have devoted so much time and effort to some sort of cover-up?
Who but an honest, astonished angler would go to the trouble of writing so copiously and passionately about these captures?
Martin Gay died suddenly aged just 54 in 2002. He had held – to my knowledge – no more than two jobs in all his working life and his very logical, sober-sided character lent itself perfectly to the role he played as bursar to London University. As such he was responsible for meticulous account-keeping and an annual budget of millions of pounds. He wrote what is widely regarded as the best-ever book on pike fishing (The Beginner’s Guide to Pike Fishing’) and, with Barrie Rickards, ‘The Pike Angler’s Manual’.
He was a prodigious writer of well-written articles on all aspects of fishing – particularly pike fishing and tench fishing on which he was, without question, an authority without peer in this country. It was Martin in the 60s and 70s who brought about the fundamental change in the way pike were perceived, handled and unhooked by a largely ignorant pike-fishing public. It was Martin – along with one or two friends – who made near-historic catches of pike from Abberton Reservoir valve tower with the aid of a purpose-built drop-net (His largest pike was 31lb 8oz, from Johnson’s Lake, Kent) On top of this, it was Martin Gay who revolutionized tench fishing using his own devastatingly-effective bait at long distance. On the quietest of days, other very capable tench anglers could only watch in wonder as he regularly struck with impeccable timing into fish to double figures.
Martin wrote that at the time of this shot he was, for the first time in his angling career, ‘scared’ – scared that the 10lb mono had reached its breaking point. That’s the ’50’ doing the bending. Do try to read this article – it mentions the 60lber!
Martin Gay also wrote beautifully of his love and reasons for fishing and of his disdain for modern carp fishing; he refused to hair-rig with a bare hook and despaired at the universal acceptance by the nation’s carp anglers of fixed-lead bolt-rigging. To him, setting near-infallible traps before turning-in for the night was a disgrace to the name of fishing. He was a highly principled man, a man undeserving of the distasteful analogy made after his death by an otherwise respectable Carp Society official: a posthumous apology is in order.
So… mentally shred and incinerate any suggestion or statement you ever read or heard that Martin Gay was a less than honourable man. Martin Gay’s 50lber, 6 x 30lbers and many 20lbers and doubles were caught from an English lake on the simplest tackle, and from right under his nose! It can be hard doing a complete about-turn in one’s thinking but this is what must be done in the name of carp fishing history by all ‘genuine’ carp anglers from the humblest to the grandest.
Cliff Hatton
“It was fishing the like of which could never realistically be imagined…”
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Martin Gay and the ‘Canadian’ Common Carp – by Eddie Benham
Where shall I start?
Well I am going to start by deleting the word ‘Canadian’ and inserting the word ‘British’ instead, and when you have finished reading this article you will know why and must draw your own conclusions.
In July 1989 Martin reported that he had caught a 48lb common carp and other large commons from an unnamed water. This led to the carp fishing fraternity assuming the fish were caught in Canada. But they weren’t.
When the story came to light I started to keep the articles Martin wrote along with any press cuttings relating to these captures and also those in the summer of 1990. In addition to these I have copies of certain correspondence and personal letters that Martin wrote to me. Martin was a friend of many years and he and his wife, Yvonne, would visit our home from time to time.
Occasionally they would call in at my offices in Limehouse for a cup of coffee and I would give them a lift back to Essex where we all lived.
He would phone me at work every week for a chat and I would see him every month on the second Tuesday when we met at the Thurrock Hotel as members of the Moor Hall and Belhus A.S. Committee. Martin was our President.
Keep this in mind as you will see that it has a bearing on the “Canada” theory.
The Photos and the Missing Background.
On the evening of 11th July, 1989, I attended a meeting of the Moor Hall & Belhus A.S. with my fishing pal, Mac McCarthy. As we got out of my car we saw Martin arrive so we walked across to join him. He then produced a photo of a carp which was absolutely massive. In fact he told us that it was heavier than his 50lb scales could handle. Although there was no black-bereted French onion-seller on a bicycle, I said to Martin “You told me you would never fish for carp in France”.
He replied, “I didn’t. I caught it over here”.
He went on to pass the photo around the table at the meeting at which there were nine of us.
The background was a grassy bank behind which was a chain link fence with concrete posts. Stacked up alongside the fence, which had a notice on it, were a pile of objects that I could not make out. None of us at that meeting saw anything in the photos to suggest that it was anything other than an English water.
Later that week Martin showed the photos to Robin Munday who, later in a letter to Tim Paisley, said “As far as I can remember, there was a notice board in the background which may have given something away, but the general scenery was not that of an English lake”.
This is very different to what Chris Yates said in the Anglers Mail dated 18th July, 1992. “Martin will not tell me where, but he has shown me other unpublished photographs and it is an English water. The fish he caught are true, there’s no doubt in my mind”
Martin also showed several photos to Cliff Hatton and another angler whose name I know but, for good reasons, will not name.
That makes thirteen of us, twelve of whom believed the water was in England and one who did not.
In a letter to Tim Paisley dated 26th February, 1990, Martin wrote “In point of fact there are 13 people (anglers) who know more than has ever been published or, indeed, ever will be”.
“The carp were caught in Canada”
There were quite a lot of “Chinese Whispers” and a lot of “Heard on the Grapevine” stuff but I would ask that you consider the following, published in ‘Editors Bit’, ‘Carpworld’, dated March/April 1990 by Tim Paisley.
He writes: When I spoke to Robin Munday about the matter I was aware that he was in a cleft stick. He had a confidence to keep but he couldn’t believe the status that was being given to an overseas fish. Part of our conversation went like this: Robin first…
”All I can say is that the fish were not caught in the British Isles. They were caught abroad”
“Where, abroad?”
“I can’t tell you that; I’m under a confidence”
“Can I ask you another way?”
“You can try”
“I know that Martin went to Canada for his holidays. Did he catch the fish while he was on holiday?”
A pause…
“I think I can answer that. Yes, he caught the fish while he was on holiday”
“You’ll understand that for the purposes of going into print we cannot rely on you thinking he caught the fish abroad. You have to know that he did so”.
“I know he did”
“If we are sued for libel we will have to prove that in court”
“You will have your proof. A number of people will come forward to confirm the facts should it go that far”
That’s it from Paisley, so now let’s look at it and see where this “proof” could possibly come from…
(To be charitable, it isn’t difficult to imagine the humourously pedantic Martin being asked “Did you catch them while on holiday?” and answering “Yes, I did!” : If he wasn’t at work he was on holiday! EDITOR)
In a letter to ‘Carpworld’ in the March/April 1990 edition, Robin Munday said that he asked Martin if he could tell two very good friends about the catch, to which Martin agreed. These were Alan Smith and Alan King. In the same edition Alan Smith writes that on the evening of 14th July he informed a friend of this catch.
None of these anglers were in the 13 who saw the photos!
Are any of these among the number of people who will come forward to “confirm the facts” – all of which were provided by Robin Munday??
“Robin told me” does not make it fact. It is merely what he told them, true or not.
In a letter to Paul (Selman?) published in Cyprinews number 15, March 1990, Martin wrote the following: “However he might like to put it, Robin does not know where my carp were caught. I know this because I didn’t tell him – a fact he acknowledged when we last spoke. He can assume, but that’s all”
“Prove they were English commons”
In the Christmas ‘Carpworld’ No.7 dated Winter 1989, Tim Paisley writes:
“It would not be too difficult for Martin to prove that he did catch the fish in this country. All he has to do is take someone we can all trust to the water (blindfold if necessary) and match the background of the fish photos to where the photographing took place”
Well, Martin did – and without the blindfold!
In his letter to Tim dated 26thFebruary, 1990, when referring to the 13 anglers, Martin goes on to state:
“One of them, my longest standing and most trusted mate has not only seen all the photographs including the 30 pounders and others (Robin only saw selected pictures of the 48 pounder) but a fortnight ago was shown the swim”
Martin told me that he also took another person (not an angler but one who shared other interests) and showed him the water, if not the actual swim where he caught his English commons.
Martin didn’t put names to these individuals. He was saying to Tim Paisley: I have shown the water to others – but not you – and that’s good enough. I’m as trustworthy as you.
And let’s face it: he would hardly take them to Canada would he?
Dates of captures 1989
No dates were shown by Martin for his 1989 captures and there has been a lot of conjecture about this.
We know that Martin fished with Robin Munday on 16th and 17th June and then went on holiday to Canada. Robin then received a phone call from Martin on 9th July when he told him of his catches. Robin said that Martin was away for around two and a half weeks. Those dates give us a window of 21 days.
So Martin could have travelled to Canada on the 18th or 19th June and returned on the 5th or 6th July. This would have meant he could have fished on either the evening of the 6th or 7th and the morning of 7th or 8th.
I don’t know what time of day he phoned Robin but if it was in the afternoon then he could well have caught the 48 on the morning of 9th July.
The reason I am so sure of this timescale is because when Martin showed Mac and I the photo on the evening of Tuesday 11th July his knuckles were red and sore, a condition which, he told us, was due to a back-spinning reel. This had clearly been sustained within the previous few days.
Dates of captures 1990
Before publication of his articles Martin asked me to proof-read his hand-written copy. Acting on my advice he left out certain details pertaining to the water and its features: I felt they were too informative. The dates remained and are wholly accurate.
(It is inconceivable that Martin would have wasted his time and put Eddie to this trouble if the accounts were untrue and, of course, he would never have implicated his great friend, Eddie, in a scam – EDITOR)
He fished on 19th, 20th and 21st June and then went on holiday to Scotland. He then fished on 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 20th, 29th July and 1st, 12th, 13th and 14th of August, during which time he caught the commons Cliff has reproduced here – and more.
It’s inconceivable he was in Canada for all those dates!
Now you may recall that Moor Hall & Belhus A.S convene on the second Tuesday of every month, and the second Tuesday in July was the 10th.
Martin could not possibly have attended that meeting and been “…back in the gravel patch by early afternoon” the following day if he was in Canada.
The meeting for August was on the 14th – one of the dates Martin was fishing.
It would have been impossible for Martin to have been fishing in Canada on that day and to have attended a meeting that same evening.
There is so much more I could write on this subject, but I will let readers draw their own conclusions from my truthful account.
I shall close this article with a deliciously ironic extract from the ‘Editors Bit’ by Tim Paisley in ‘Carpworld’ Sept/Oct. 1989. It reads:
“Big is beautiful. But big is also dangerous, and the death rate of big fish over the last few years – I would guess since the bare hook rigs started taking their toll – has given cause for concern. In the right environment carp live to be forty, fifty years old; we are subjecting them to constant angling pressure and repeat captures. I wish there was more incentive for the best carp anglers in the country to go out and seek unknown biggies”.
Well, one of them did just that – and look at what happened.
Ed Benham
