Those who actually knew Martin Gay have only ONE contention: that he caught a 50lb+ common carp – plus other magnificent specimens – in Britain. That’s it.
In 1989-90 the untouched photos seen by so many of his friends mysteriously gained a background of ‘mountains’. This became a ‘given’ thanks to one individual and his associates and remained a ‘given’ for many years.
Gay was successfully branded a liar – job done.
Years on, somebody on the Northern Monkeys website enquired about Martin Gay and the big ‘un he’d heard about – ‘What’s the truth of this?’ he naively asked.
Chris Ball, keen to nip things in the bud, replied that Martin had once enjoyed respect within his peer group but that he’d lost that respect by claiming a 48lber from a U.K water. Chris ‘explained’ that the fish was actually caught in Canada and that, unfortunately, Martin had ‘lost the plot’. Sadly, said Chris, he would only be remembered in the same way George Michael will be remembered for his less than savoury antics in a New York park – only Chris was a bit more explicit.
What a cheap shot that was. One might be forgiven for seeing this carefully chosen analogy as a sure-fire way of turning the public off once and for all; after all, Chris had never seen the photos and could prove nothing if taken to task.
This foul slur precipitated my original defence of the extraordinarily honest Martin Gay on Fishing Magic a couple of years ago. Oh, dear…the ‘official’ story was under threat!
Since then, the Carp Society’s Paul Selman has resurrected his farcical theory that the innocent little sprig of something in the main photo is non-indigenous and, therefore, further ‘proof’ that the fish was caught overseas. Who but the desperate would cast their eyes over the image of a widely acclaimed, successful angler and seize upon a twiglet of growth as a means to discredit his foe?
Desperate, too, was Paul’s attempt at another diversion, deeming the big ‘un a ‘low thirty’ with Martin’s stated weight of 48lbs the estimate of a [mere] ‘tench angler’. Quite rightly, that one never took off – but it was another attempt to make the debate look ‘suspect’ and, therefore, unworthy of readers’ attention.
Paul Selman has since unwittingly highlighted the very reasons for the Carp Society’s original, frustrated decree on Martin’s magnificent fish by questioning here on FM only last week why Martin had been wearing shorts and trainers ‘like a tourist’ at the time of the 50lber’s capture (He told me, Paul. He thought he might have to ‘go in’ to land his fish)…and why he was using such “basic, primitive” tackle (You mean a 12ft, cork-handled, graphite carp rod; Mitchell reel, nylon line and a laterally-compressed Partridge ‘Arrowhead’ hook?)…and why “no one else in England has ever found this water when it can be seen from a road?” (Well frankly – tough!)
These are and were the very reasons for the Carp Society’s exasperation!! Why? How??? they must have fumed! Rather than accept that one of our ‘better carp anglers’ (quote, Tim Paisley) went carp fishing without a barrow-load of hi-tec gizmos and found a piece of paradise, they chose to push the ‘mountains’ myth!
But lo!! With the investigation growing warmer and with Eddie Benham’s archives to confirm important quotes and dates and the specific weather conditions prevailing at the time of the carps’ captures – the ‘mountains’ have been dropped! Now, according to Paul Selman, the modified photos conceal the ‘pylons’ of Lennox Power Station, Ontario, 2,009 kms from Banff, British Columbia, where Martin and his wife visited relatives on at least two occasions. I know this because Martin took great pleasure in describing his hikes in the forests around the Rockies – but nothing about fishing! How astonishingly fortuitous then, that at a time of growing scrutiny, we’re told by Paul with unerring certainty that ‘in fact’ Martin didn’t have relatives in British Columbia! They lived in Ontario where Martin’s nephew lived! Thanks for putting me right on that, Paul; he’d obviously been stringing me along and planning his ‘hoax’ for ten years!
Now then…as if all these diversions were not enough, we now have ‘lamprey bites’, designed to confuse us further still. These distractions just keep on coming, don’t they?
Yet another is Paul Selman’s curiously enthusiastic affirmation that “Jim Gibbinson knows the facts – he’ll tell you”. Well, he doesn’t and he won’t because he can’t. Best leave Jim out of this, Paul: he won’t thank you.
The desperation to save face is glaring at us, is it not?
Remember, the Pro-Gay Camp has seen the photos and knew the man, most of us with all the familiarity of a brother. Chris Yates is on record (Anglers Mail, W/E July 18th 1992) as saying “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” added Chris three years after the event and all the unpleasant controversy. That required conviction and a good dollop of guts. And remember, Chris saw “other unpublished photographs”
I, Ed Benham, Michael MacCarthy and the recently contacted Michael Tilbrook, Gwynne Davies, Alan Blackford and John Reed can solemnly swear that the photos showed nothing more than tall, yellowing grass, a notice and a diamond link fence; we can also confidently state that the ‘spawning area’ of dense, tall reeds and dead trees we were shown would not and cannot be found in Lennox power station’s ‘warm water outlet’!! Furthermore, Robin Monday has tellingly back-pedalled, saying now that there were ‘rocks’ in the photos’ backgrounds – not mountains after all. The cracks are appearing…big time.
Contrary to Paul Selman’s insistence that Martin told Robin Monday and Alan Smith he’d caught the fish in Canada, he didn’t – and Robin Monday has admitted this! The documented quote is still available. And it was Monday who told Alan Smith about the fish – not Martin! Thus, another significant crack appears.
There’s more…
Despite many requests from me and Geoff Maynard, Paul Selman continues to avoid the ‘mountains or pylons?’ question. So, one more time, Paul: ‘mountains’ or ‘pylons’? Where on Earth did those pesky ‘mountains’ go? We need to know because, as a fire-fighter goes for the source to eradicate the smoke and flames, we need to know what happened to the very catalyst of this unnecessary debate. It was the ‘mountains’ that spawned this great injustice in the very first place and I have just had it confirmed by Robin Monday that it was ‘rocks’ in the background – no mention of mountains. So…were there rocks? Perhaps it was just, well…y’know…stones…. ok, grass.
This investigation was predicated on the need to restore Martin Gay’s impeccable record as an unusually meticulous, honest, thinking angler: one really needs to have known him to fully appreciate this. He was a one-off. He could be grumpy and disarmingly frank but he also possessed a good sense of humour and, above all, a respect for truth and accuracy.
As I write, I am aware that Eddie Benham has irrefutable evidence that will silence the character assassins once and for all. I relish reading these and hope that you do too…
