ICONS | Mary

There are very few venues in Britain that have been written about more than Wraysbury 1. Other than Redmire Pool and the Yateley complex, Wraysbury is especially important to British carp fishing history since the lake once held the British record carp; in fact the same fish broke the record twice.

This is no surprise when you come to learn about the nature of the venue, as in the late 1990s many believed there were roughly 20 carp living in 120 acres. In more recent years, Wraysbury 1 has undergone many changes under its new ownership, whereby the lake has been divided into two (45 and 75 acres respectively) and each lake has since received multiple stockings of fish. Changes to such an iconic venue were hard to accept for many anglers and some still feel that the lake should have remained untouched, although as the saying goes, nothing stays the same forever.

It is believed that the large gravel pit had begun formation as early as the 1920s, whereby extraction carried on over a number of years until the pit reached and settled at its current size. Fish were steadily and unofficially introduced into the venue over time but the recorded history of the venue becomes much clearer after Leisure Sport Angling took control of Wraysbury in 1970, including several other lakes in the surrounding area.

The inland ocean was to throw up many surprises in the coming years thanks to a stocking in 1983 with 20 carp containing six mirror carp and 14 common carp, as well as another unofficial introduction in 1986 with four carp from a local lake called Rayners. These four mirrors were to become a solid foundation for Wraysbury 1’s history, by becoming the venue’s largest fish, one of which would become Britain’s largest.

Mary had reached a peak of almost 27lb in Rayners but with Wraysbury 1 being a low stock and extremely rich environment, this particular carp, along with others, proceeded to grow at a phenomenal rate.

The first recorded capture of Mary was in 1988 at a weight at 28lb 14oz by Dave Cumpstone, and he was to catch the carp twice more in the future. Of course, Mary is a female name but the carp that spent the rest of its life living in Wraysbury 1 was a male fish. Several fish that had broken the record previously were female fish and were carrying spawn, whereas Mary did not.

Pete Springate was another angler to bank Mary three times. He started fishing Wraysbury back in the late 1960s, targeting the tench, but the sighting of a carp quickly started his burning desire for catching the biggest and best carp in the land. Amazing only three years after Dave Cumpstone caught Mary the angling world was to witness something magical as 45lb 6oz of relatively unknown mirror carp was caught from Wraysbury 1 back in July 1991 by Pete. Having located a very large fish close to underwater snags he had seen in the close season, he used his previous knowledge to look in the same area, and lo and behold he soon found what he was looking for.

A trap was set in close proximity to where Pete had seen the big mirror, as well as a smaller resident accompanying it. Of course, the larger fish took the bait and after some time both Dave Cumpstone and Pete Springate compared photos, when they realised they had both caught the same fish. Nearly 17lb growth in three years is almost inconceivable but it most certainly did happen and is testament to the fantastic environment the carp were exposed to.

As with any big fish unknown to the masses there is always great interest, but considering this capture was reported in the press back in the early 1990s, there was most certainly an increase in interest in the venue. But it didn’t stop there!

The events that unfolded in June 1992 at Wraysbury 1 are still spoken of fondly by anglers to this present day, and will be forever remembered as the greatest brace of carp in history. This was of course Pete Springate with the capture of not only Mary for the second time but also its sensational scaly companion known as Mary’s Mate, hooking them both within three hours of each other. Almost a year had passed since Mary first lay in Pete’s net but this time it weighed 47lb, and the other 37lb 8oz.

In fact, the year of 1992 was to be a landmark year for the venue. Dave Cumpstone was to catch Mary twice more as one of six fish caught by himself in one season of fishing the lake. It was also his last season fishing the 120-acre venue when Mary graced his landing net for the final time in early December, weighing a then high of 50lb 8oz, making the fish Britain’s second fifty-pounder. Unbelievably he too also caught Mary’s Mate only a few hours previous, weighing 40lb 3oz.

The lake’s largest resident continued to grow year after year until the inevitable happened, when Mary broke the British record in November 1996. He was caught by an angler who many people had good faith would catch it, but the question was how big would the fish be? The angler in question was young Terry Hearn, who had caught some of the biggest carp that lived in some of the most testing waters found in southern Britain at the time, namely Yateley Car Park, Yateley North Lake and Richmond Park. Wraysbury 1 was the next venue on his agenda.

Terry’s capture of Mary from the Rocky Barge swim is very well documented but when the great mirror carp was initially weighed a weight of 55lb 10oz was recorded. After being sent off to Weights & Measures for calibration, the result showed that the scales were 3oz light. Once confirmed, the new British record carp then stood at 55lb 13oz winning Terry the Cobra Carp Cup the following year in 1997.

Only the following April, Darren Ward had his meeting with Mary and very nearly could have broken the record, although he had little interest in claiming to do so at the time. Once landed, the fish was safely sacked for a few hours waiting for his friends and family to arrive. Upon opening the sack, the fish had passed lots of bait and up on the scales a weight of 55lb 8oz was recorded. The year of 1997 saw history made again when Darren become the first angler to catch a 50lb carp from both home and abroad. He also later caught an enormous tench of 15lb, which provoked him to send his scales off for testing. A result showed that his scales were also 3oz light.

The second and last person to catch Mary at a British record weight was Kevin Cummings in 1998, who had already caught the fish previously in 1995 at over 50lb. This time 56lb 6oz was the new record and the highest weight Mary was to ever reach. Unfortunately carp of this magnitude, or any carp for that matter, do not last forever and in August 2001 Mary was found dead by long-time carp anglers John Holt and Steve Alcott.

Credits

Mary was a carp loved by many, and which lived in an incredibly mentally and physically testing venue. Some anglers would endure entirely blank seasons just to experience those few minutes of pure elation to hold one of the biggest, or in some cases the biggest carp in Britain. Without the quality of information and beautiful images available relating to this most important of carp, this piece of writing wouldn’t have been possible. Credit to Dave Cumpstone, Pete Springate, Terry Hearn and Darren Ward, whose images and writing will remain timeless and inspirational for several generations.

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