THE start of the Malvern United Angling Association's winter league saw a good turnout of members tackling a very unforgiving River Avon at Birlingham.

Plummeting temperatures and clear water would make this one a real 'grueller'.

Neil Humpage drew peg 39 on the downstream end of the stretch and tackled it with a tiny groundbait feeder and light line to try and tempt any fish that may be willing to feed in the conditions.

By the end of the match Neil had managed only two tiny roach and was considering throwing them back without weighing in, only to discover that incredibly the five ounces they weighed was enough to win on the day.

Match secretary Ian Goddard could only muster one small roach but it weighed three ounces and gave him second place.

Mike Spragg caught one tiny chub which tipped the scales at two ounces which put him in third spot. The rest of the field did not trouble the scalesman.

So it was to the club's pool at Mathon that members went for the second round.

Conditions were slightly better but icy rain at times hampered the anglers' efforts. Drawn on peg 2, John Barr found the usually productive island swim very quiet and only managed to land one carp, this after he had scaled right down to light tackle in order to induce a bite on pole tactics, but it was good enough to win him this latest round weighing 4-0-0.

Second place went to Mike Spragg who gambled on the pools resident carp not feeding and set his stall out for silver fish. Mike used a small groundbait feeder approach to winkle out 1-12-0 of skimmers, perch and roach from peg 10.

Third place was shared by John Cooper (peg 18) and Chris Loveridge (peg 20), who both netted 1-4-0.

Fur and feather

THE MUAA is holding its annual fur and feather contest on the Avon at Birlingham on Sunday, December 12. Draw 9am.

The usual festive fayre of mince pies and dubious sherry will be on hand to get everyone in the Christmas spirit. Traditionally new members bring a prize to be fished so nobody goes home empty-handed.