Earlier in the week I received a message from Ray Bazeley, he said he would like to read about my results in the Poppy Match and would I oblige, it was nice of him to ask and I said I would do so. Later on Ray put a post on Facebook that this year will be the 40th year of the Poppy Match running and he's hoping to celebrate that achievement in November, would be great to get a good turnout, especially after last year's cancellation.
I've looked back at previous posts on this match and my diaries to come up with my best results on this match, which is my very lucky match indeed. Ray joked the last time I framed on this match that I had paid my mortgage off with my winnings from the Poppy Match, lol.
1988 was my very first win, it had been an ambition of mine as a young angler to win a Winter League and the Poppy match, and in 1998 I did both. This match was a 200 peg sell out, and I was drawn on Chequers Straight a couple of pegs below the Cow Drink. I had fished this part of the river a lot since being a junior and knew that their were skimmers to be caught here, and if I was going to do any good I would have to catch them. I set up one feeder rod with an open ended feeder and that was it, I thought about a crowquill for roach but told myself go for it skimmers or bust! Two hours into the match I had been casting mid river and was blanking, meanwhile the angler below was catching roach on the crowquill, I very nearly went up the bank to set the float up but then thought I'd never catch him up. Good choice as the skimmers turned up and I had 11 of them and I was doing the best. Then I had no more signs and going into the last hour I was told by Glenn Bailey that everyone else was catching me up and I needed to do something. I decided to start a new line, right over by the boats, what I hadn't appreciated at the time was that this was where the skimmers mostly shoaled when it was clear water. I had a skimmer straight away and had 6 in this last late burst. My final weight of 27lb 6oz was enough for my first Poppy Match win, just beating Graham Hunt who had about 24lb of chub. It was a glorious moment for me, sat with all of my Bristol Amalgamation team mates passing round the cup, winning with your friends present to celebrate is really important to me.
1989 the river was up a bit and coloured, not so bad and well fishable. I drew two pegs above the New Fence peg, and was not sure I would do any good from this peg as the bream didn't tend to show here. I remember Lee Gumbleton was next peg, and not too far away was Tony Rixon. As the previous year it was just a groundbait feeder set up for me, I fished this about 1/3 the way out and had regular bites for the first four hours before a quiet last hour. Still I was well happy as I had netted 3 chub, 2 hybrids and about 5lb of decent roach. My total weight of 12lb was enough for me to come 3rd on the day, I was quite surprised by that as I thought there would have been more bream weights. It was a very happy day for me, but a better one of course for the winner Tony Rixon who had a great net of bream.
In 1991 I was pegged in the last peg in the first field at Swineford, in amongst the reeds. I recall a few comments along the lines of "you won't win it this year from there". To be fair they were right, and four hours in I had hardly anything in the net, but then the angler above me packed up and went home on a peg that I knew held a few fish. Whether those fish dropped down to me I don't know but I had some chub and skimmers in the last hour to end with 12lb 4oz. That got me 9th overall and a frame payout (they paid down to 10 or 12 back in the day).
1993 the river was well up and not nice at all, I had a nice draw getting the peg opposite the outfall at Swineford. I caught just 11 eels on the feeder for 2lb 2 1/2oz and that was good enough for 8th overall! The match was won by Ron Gaulton (RIP).
2000 and another flooded river! The match organisers had unusually gotten part of the match pegged on Bathampton's water at Newbridge and Kelston straight, a good move as Swineford and Crane would be awful. My golden arm pulled out a peg one above the danger weir sign on Kelston straight. On the weir sign peg (flyer) was my good friend and team mate Mark "Podge" Jeffries. We had a good match between ourselves, with Podge getting an early bream and me playing catch up but getting plenty of eels. I had a good bite but got snapped up and thought that was my chance gone it was a right lump. Luckily I was to hook a bream, and boy did it go in the flow, I was stood up on my box leaning out holding just the very butt of my rod as I tried to keep the bream out of the reeds. I succeeded and that would make it close with Podge. My 16 eels and 1 roach to go with the bream went 9lb 10oz , and I beat Podge by about 10oz I think. I came second on the day, beaten by Les Williams who had 4 bream.
2001 The river was clear and float fishable and that was great. I remember being in the draw queue chatting to Podge and Bob Sheppard and we said we fancied being on Chequers Straight, Bob pulled out a peg just above the cow drink and was very happy about it, Podge didn't, but then I pulled out the peg above Bob, opposite the rock face. Bob said he would hammer me, he liked his mind games. I had drawn this peg once before and had a nice net of roach on the stick float, and I believed this would be the best method again on the day. I did also set up a block ended feeder but I never cast that out at all. I had one of my favourite days fishing, catching roach, dace, a few bleak and 1 chub on the stick float feeding hemp and caster. I had to vary the shotting pattern and where I cast the float in to avoid the bleak, but it was a bite a chuck. I weighed in 21lb 12oz and this was enough to the win the match, and in doing so made me the first person ever to win the event twice. It was a very proud moment for me, as it was something I had also wondered, could I win it again. Oh and by the way, I nearly doubled Bob Sheps weight ;-) lol.
2005 The last Poppy match to be run by British Legion legend Brian Lloyd after 25 years of sterling work raising an awful lot of money for the Poppy fund. The river had been in flood and was now running off with the colour was still in, a steady peg was needed for sure I thought. I drew the steps at Jack Whites, probably the shallowest and fastest peg on the day and all thoughts of doing any good were over lol! As I was walking to my peg an angler came up from below, he said he was on the peg below me and was not going to bother and I was wasting my time. Well I had a look and yes it was fast but I was going to give it a go. I set up so that my feeder rod butt was on top of the bank and I stood just a few steps down to be comfortable. I started by casting a heavy feeder right over to the willow tree in a slack looking for some of the chub that used to be on the peg. After 90 minutes I had just the one bite and it was a 3lb bream! I had snagged up a fair few times and so decided to make my life easier by casting just a third the way out in the flow with 2oz of lead and the tail of a lobworm. I think I had 6 bites on this, and hooked 5 chub and landed them all. Those six fish went 18lb exactly and I came 4th as a result. One of the most satisfying matches I have had when nobody gave the peg a chance.
2007 Another lovely river, nice pace and clear and I really wanted to draw a chub peg at Swineford and fish the waggler. I did it again and pulled out peg 18 at Swineford and was really thinking I had a chance today. I set one waggler and one feeder but started on the waggler. Bites came steady, but they were only from small fish and no sign of chub at all. I upped the feed (maggot and caster) and this resulted in the small fish going and me getting no bites. A guy wandered along and told me he had fished the peg the day before and had 35lb of chub, cheers mate!!!!! I was absolutely gutted at hearing this as chub don't take toothache well! Half way through I had about 8lb of bits and was going nowhere. I never gave up and carried on running the wag hoping for a few late chub maybe. What happened next was as big a surprise to me as anyone else, I had a bream on the waggler. I landed it and cast the feeder out, nothing at all. Back on the waggler and another bream, and then I went on to catch in total 15 bream on the waggler. I weighed in 61lb and not surprisingly I won the match, this was for the third time! I have to thank Nick Ewers who was above me, he swapped his waders for my moon boots as I had to wade out or I could not fish. Nick came third I think with a few bream on the feeder.
2008 Back to a coloured river with quite a lot of leaves in it. I pulled out the first peg in the Long Ashtip field at the Crane, peg 85. I have caught a few bream on the peg before so put my faith in the good old groundbait feeder, I fished it only a couple of rods out, I could have gone much further out but the leaves were worse further out. To cut a long story short I had 4 bream and 4 skimmers for 22lb 2oz and won the match again. I remember being stood at the bar with my team captain Mark Harper, I was shaking my head in disbelief, I just couldn't take it in winning two years on the trot.
2012 A nice river for this match in terms of flow but probably a little to clear. Once again I was back up the Crane in the Long Ashtip field on peg 81, my team mate Martin Barrett was on my favourite peg 85 and I thought he could win the section if he balled it and fished the pole, but he fished the topper float. I had a bad snag in my peg on the pole line, and had to fish right at the top of my peg and balled it in here. I was catching the odd roach on the pole, but if I let the rig go too far I got snagged. I lost quite a few hooks and then disaster the whole rig was lost, the snag came up off the bottom a few feet. Another rig and I caught a few more until the halfway mark and it went dead. I picked up the groundbait feeder and cast this out a little further than the pole line to avoid the snag. I had 1 skimmer on this, and a few roach up to 1lb, then I hooked what I thought was a big bream... I soon realised it was a pike, and was gutted, but then I thought pike might count, so as I was playing it I rang my mate and poppy match co-organiser Paul Benson and asked if Pike counted, he said "yes, why?".. I got one on says I, "You jammy c..." I put the phone down to carry on playing the pike knowing this would bump me up as the match was fishing hard. It was a decent pike and I was a long way off the water and wasn't sure I could get the pike up the bank, so I slid down the bank with the net and scooped it up there. I then had to pull myself back up the bank by grabbing stingers and whatever else! The pike was weighed at 10lb 5oz and in total I weighed in 23lb 9oz. That meant I had won the match and this was my fifth win. I had been jammy with the pike of course, but as it turned out even without it I would have been second, but the pike won me the match. It was a very emotional win for me as I had been diagnosed with cancer in 2010, and part of me wondered would I ever fish another Poppy match again, so to win it gave me a big lump in my throat.
2017 The river was a little pacey but looked good for some good weights (but we have said that before!) I drew myself peg 3 at Newbridge, a peg I have drawn quite a few times over the years and usually a good bet for a roach bag, but on some days bream will show. I went for it today and just fished the feeder straight down the middle of the river. The roach were feeding and I had bites from then on maggots and casters, I kept trying bigger baits and occasionally it worked and I had a few bream. 23lb 10oz was enough to come 4th overall, with Kev Boltz winning the match on peg 54 with 59lb of bream.
With Ray Bazeley, Paul Benson now running this match since 2006 the event has been and is in good hands. The Poppy Match is a special event for me, I don't know why that is the case but it is. Some Poppy matches I have caught next to nothing, but I guess the thing I would say is that I have made the most of the good draws when I have had them. I am still the only person to have won it more than twice, but I'm sure that won't forever as there are some great winners names on the cup. After winning it twice I always thought I won't win it again, but the only question I get asked is can I win it again? Who knows, six times would be mental, but I will certainly be giving it my best shot.
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