My Poppy Match Results

At last there is some light at the end of the lockdown tunnel it seems, with matches looking likely to resume from the 29th March hopefully. During this week many commercial fisheries have also announced they are opening up again, and that means more pleasure fishing opportunities for local anglers. With the settled weather the upper part of the Bristol Avon is now fishing well, with chub and roach coming out, lucky if you live close by, I would be on it! The river at Keynsham is still a bit pacey, but I would imagine Newbridge would be spot on for fishing the feeder for bream, get on the right peg and you could have a great day. I decided not to fish again this weekend, had a nice couple of hours walk on Saturday, then today I finished putting up shelves in my shed, then set about sorting my garden, and before I knew it the time was 16:30. As I sit here typing I feel a little tired but very satisfied with my efforts, and spending time outside in the sun was very pleasant.

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.

2002

Another week in lockdown, it has been a busy week for myself and family so it feels like the week has actually gone quickly. No joy yet on the van hunting but fingers crossed something decent turns up in my price range soon. It was my youngest daughters birthday on Saturday and we did a decent job to celebrate it before she went onto zoom with her friends into the early hours lol. I spent most of my Sunday putting up another couple of shelves in my shed and reorganising where stuff is stored. One more shelf to put up now, would have done it today but bought a box of London brackets originally that had 20 pieces in it,  when I thought it had 25, doh. Still lots more space on the floor now, all looking much better, might as well use lockdown to do something useful. 

Being busy with work at present means I don't have the ability to fish in the week, there have been odd days when the river was OK to fish, but always it seems on a weekday. A bit more rain and then it looks like a dry period, so who knows maybe a window of opportunity next weekend, even just to chuck a feeder out.

In 2002 after a decent first half of the year for me I hit a real bad patch and nothing went right for me. A 10lb weight at Hillview on the lakes on poor day, then onto the Huntspill for opens and Super league matches. Peg 110 on the Spill on a hot and sunny day, caught a handful of small skimmers, then tried to catch eels and caught none! The following week the Superleague and I drew peg 135 which was an area the week before bream had showed. It was another struggle though for me, 2 skimmers on the feeder only, then some bits on the pole over gbait, finally fished a longer pole and maggots to catch a few eels. 3lb 14oz for 6 points, mid section.

Another disaster at Hillview on Heron Pool for me, I fished cat meat which I thought would be a great way to catch the car, errr no just 6 carp. All the framers bagged up fishing worm and caster through the water.  It was now September 22nd and I went out for a bit of pleasure fishing in the hope to catch a few fish! I went on the Avon at Conham and fished just past the weir that is on the far bank. Back in 2002 the pegs were more plentiful than today, and you could get down to the water, I stood up and fished a stick float with 0.08 and a 22, feeding hemp and caster. I had good double figures of roach and dace and it was just what the Doctor ordered before the winter leagues began. First round of the Commercial House was up at Melksham and I drew Portman Road. Not sure if this was the match but I think it was, I was fishing off a high bank and as I was setting up the bank gave way on me. All I could do was grab hold of stinging nettles with one hand and keep hold of my Boss box with the other. I shouted out and Andy Bryant came running down from the next peg and I told him to grab my box first, then he pilled me up. I was seriously lucky that I did not go in the water, and that Andy was quick to help. The match itself was not great, I had literally a dozen roach on the pole and then could not get a bite. I had a little bush opposite and fished a chopped worm feeder here for a few perch on lobworm, but I did hit something decent which snapped me up, or bit me off. A lowly 2lb 4oz  was all I weighed in, but the whole section was poor and I actually got 10 points out of 14 lol.

Into October 2002 and the first round of the ATWL and I drew the Boys Hole on the Crane stretch of the Avon. I think  I can remember parts of this day as Ian Pulsford (RIP) was running the bank I think for Bathampton. This is a pretty straight forward peg on a normal river, fish the pole for roach and anything else that swims. On this day I balled in 9 jaffas at 12 metres and fished a 2g float with 0.10 to a 20 / 22. I was catching steady and was happy enough and I was still getting odd fish 2 hours in. However, with 2 hours to go it was gone and I knew Shaun Townsend was catching by the cattle drink so I had to do something. I prepared another 4 balls of groundbait to throw in and just before I did up popped Ian, he said I was going shit or bust doing what I was doing. In went the 4 balls, then out went the pole and Ian watched as I ran the rig down the river, a bite and a fish, and another next run down. Ian said something like bollocks you're lucky and went off to tell Shaun the bad news that I was catching again lol! I finished that match with 9lb 13oz and won the section, and the team were first on the day, so a great start for all of us.

That's enough rambling of the past for today I think, I've put on a random picture of a catch shot to remind me of better times. This was about 6 years ago on the river Tone in the middle of February, some nice roach (biggest 1lb), chublets, dace and I had a couple of grayling. I fished a waggler just past mid river and had to fish a couple of feet off the bottom to avoid a big snag. This was on the town stretch, and with a nice steady flow I was able to fish with just a few no 8 and no 10 shot down the line. A really lovely way of fishing that I enjoy and I would just love to get the chance to do again, but I guess that will now not be possible until the next river season.

2002

 I promised myself I would keep the blog going through lockdown, whether I fished or not, and so far I have kept  my promise and don't feel like it is a chore. An update on my post from last week first. The South West Rivers group on Facebook goes from strength to strength, with some great stories and memories shared, and it now has 600 members. I finally got round to opening the bottle of Deanston single malt, by just adding a teaspoon of water it opened up the whisky and it smelled and tasted absolutely great. I just had a couple of small glasses, and I will have this as a treat just every now again as I want this bottle last and see if the flavours change over some months. My feeling is if you are paying for a great single malt then savour it and don't get pissed on it... if you want to get pissed do it on something cheaper. (Note be drink aware) By the way I am not planning on becoming a whisky reviewer, not unless somebody gives me the odd bottle to try ;-)

Back in 2001 I was getting over the disaster of the ATWL final on the Nene, no time to feel sorry for myself as team matches came thick and fast and it was a Superleague on the K&A canal at Horton for me next. As i recall the area I was drawn in was not noted for big fish and so it was a squatt and pinkie affair with some groundbait thrown in. I used 4x10 and 4x8 rigs mostly in the match as I found most of the tiny roach I caught came on the drop. After catching some roach a metre off the far bank I then had to go over more where the over spray of squatts went. A lot of fish for not much weight, 2lb 13oz, worth 7 out of 11 points, OK for the team. I didn't record the team position in my diary unfortunately.

Sunday 21st July and I fished an open on Campbell Lake at Viaduct Fishery. I'm not sure if this was one of my early forays, or even my first, using paste. I recorded that I fed groundbait and pellets, and fished with pellet or paste on the hook, back then it would have been a fishmeal gbait made paste. I had 50lb 11oz which was enough to win the section that day.

The following week and another superleague on the K&A, this time I was drawn at Hilperton and really didn't know much about this part of the canal but was told there were some skimmers to be caught. I didn't have a great day in that I didn't get in amongst many or any decent skimmers, most likely as I did not fish positive enough. I did lose a tench which unluckily I pulled out of and ultimately was to cost me a top three section place. 3lb 14oz was only worth 5 points, so a poor result.

A change of scenery and off to Hillview Fishery for my first match of August 2002, drew on one of the canals and fished luncheon meat right across to the reeds and in my margins. It was a tough old day, one of those when you think you must be getting it wrong but then realise everyone else is struggling. I caught both on the deck and shallow, though not many lol. I had just 24lb 7oz but got last in the frame and came 3rd. I had a bit of break after this for a few weeks as I had to go on a long business trip to Hong Kong, and so I wanted to spend some time with my family before and after. Never had to go back to Hong Kong again but still do a lot of business there with my company. It was a fantastic experience, one I will never forget, and I was well looked after by customers and my HK co workers. The only downside was waking up in the middle of the night wide awake as my body clock took a few days to get used to the time difference.

Thank goodness that cold snap seems to be over, a week of warmer windier weather will surely wake the fish up in the lakes, sadly the rivers my go back to being flooded, but fingers crossed they don't.

2002

 Another week of lockdown passes by and hopefully that means another week nearer to some loosening of lockdown. My parents have now had their vaccination and it looks like there is only another 12 million in the queue before it is my turn. No car now, and no van as yet, lockdown and the weather conspire to keep me at home other than going for a walk for an hour when I can. With no fishing I am keeping myself busy in my spare time, and one thing I have been doing is watching whisky reviews on you tube. I  had a bottle of single malt given to me at Christmas, it is called Deanston, turns out the reviewer I follow called this his single malt of the year back in Jan 2020, happy days I will have to give it a try next weekend. Another thing that has caught my attention is the "South West river match anglers group" on Facebook, set up by Craig Fletcher. With no fishing matches happening the page has not been doing anything, so Craig suggested anglers write up stories of their past matches, great days, bad days, funny times.. Craig asked if I would contribute and I was happy to help and get the ball rolling, and I must say there have been some brilliant and hilarious stories and comments on it, take a look yourself and contribute if you can.

Just remembered, this time last year I was lapping up the sunshine and rum in Barbados, maybe get back there one day....

Back in 2002 in June I pleasure fished at Bullocks Farm, think it was the only time I ever did, I fished on South Pool for not a lot, then turned my box around and fished in a small pond, something like Camilla Bay, and had 20 carp to 5lb on cat meat. I was back at Bullocks for a small open match run by Mr Rixon on the carp lake. I think this was the day when the water had a very brown colour on the top (algae) and when I cupped bait in the colour would break up for a bit. It was a slow day, and I only had 5 carp, all were caught tight to the far bank on cat meat. 22lb 14oz was enough to win my section.

June 16th, you may expect that I would have been on the river on the opening day of the season, but no I was on a lake. I had got up early and drove to Earlswood Lakes to have a practice on "Engine Lake" for an upcoming match I had qualified for, the Sensas PRO - AM final. I'm not sure how long this competition went on for, but basically every month a "panel" would pick one open match angler, and one club match angler from the Anglers Mail reports to go into this final. To be picked you must have used and had it reported in the write up that you used a Sensas product in your win. I was picked for winning the ATWL semi-final, and was well chuffed to be picked as a "PRO". Going up for the practice was important, as I what I found out was that it was method feeder fishing, something I hadn't hardly done. It was good to practice, I realised I needed stronger mainline, and also one of my quiver tips snapped, but I could lots of carp up to 6lb and was feeling happy about things.

I had another chance to practice fishing a method feeder a few days later. I was invited by a customer to a golf / fishing day down near Dorking way, the lake being in the middle of the golf course. The lake was no longer fished due to Health and Safety issues, so the organiser must have been good friends with someone to let us fish it. I put a brolly up as I had a green about 30 metres behind me and I found a couple of golf balls as I was clearing the bankside vegetation, yikes! Armed with better tackle I used this as a practice and the new gear was well tested, as I landed three carp, with the biggest being 18lb which was my biggest ever fish at the time, I also had 4 bream. Two golf balls came close, one in the water and one overhead, funny thing though both balls were hit by the same golfer lol.

The PRO AM final was fished on Tuesday 25th June, it was pegged further down the lake from where I had fished. There was a strong line up of anglers, I remember all the Ringer family were there, but it might only have been Phil fishing, also Darren Cox. Each PRO had to draw a partner out of the hat, as the money being paid out was to the top three pairs. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the guy I drew but he was from down South and we knew each other though hadn't seen each other for a while. I walked to my peg, and got to my platform which was about 8 feet higher than the lake today, you had to have your gear handed down to you off the platform and then walk to the waters edge. I waded out a little but not far as the organisers had asked us to not go out too far. I set up the method, and also a pole float, but I had no clue about fishing the pole on hard pellet for carp and the rig was all wrong, and when I only found 2 feet of water I binned it off. I had a nice steady start to the match casting to the horizon and had 8 carp in the first two hours, the many runners were telling me I was either first or second. The fish then drifted out of my peg and off to the lad to my left on the end peg. I had another 2 carp and couple of bream but was gutted that I hadn't carried on catching. My mistake, I found out after, was that I should have started a new line closer, or fed a line closer with pellets and chucked the method over that. My lack of carp fishing knowledge was evident, but I learnt a lot. However, my good start had got me 48lb, and that added to my partners weight got is in to third place and we pocketed £150 each. I am pretty sure Phil Ringer won it, his club partner was coached by Geoff Ringer on the day so they were really well set. Still it was nice to be part of the event, meet some top anglers and get in the prizes.

I could go on and write about the practice on the River Nene for the ATWL final, but I had a disaster from start to finish. I caught 1lb on one practice, ounces on the next, only catching on bloodworm which I was fishing (looking back) all wrong. Come the final I was on the North Bank and had my weight of 2lb 12oz, but this was only good enough to beat two people, and the further you went to my right the better it got with bags up to 16lb of big roach on bloodworm. Proving that most of my team also had little clue how to fish the bait we came last but one on the day. Still you live and learn.

Enough ramblings for this week, stay safe and keep warm.