THE Malvern United Angling Association's spring league got underway at the club's pool at Mathon with a good turnout of members.

A different scoring system is being tried in the league this year with any carp caught only counting as one pound in weight, and silver fish being weighed as normal. It is hoped that this will make it fairer for anglers pegged away from noted carp pegs.

As it turned out, Neil Humpage drew the favoured island peg 21 and took the first round with a four carp haul weighing 8-14-0, giving him an adjusted weight of 4-0-0. Neil employed straight lead tactics with corn on the hook for his winning catch.

In second place was John Barr, who managed to winkle out a mixed net of skimmers, roach and perch using waggler and maggot from peg 7.

Match secretary Ian Goddard employed similar tactics to take 0-11-0 of small fish from peg 20 which was good enough for third on the day.

The second round saw the new scoring system come into play, Ian Goddard won this one with a mixed bag of skimmers, roach and perch weighing 1-11-0 on the waggler from peg 6. Barry Hill came second despite catching a carp of 3-2-0, this only counted as 1-0-0 under the new system and along with some small roach and perch, he finished with 1-8-0.

Chris Loveridge took third spot with a mixed net on the waggler from peg 16. Neil Humpage sneaked into the frame with 0-10-0 from peg 8.

The latest contest was fished last Sunday in glorious sunshine which saw carp coming to the surface of the pool but proving tricky to catch.

Only ounces separated the top two, but it was John Barr who took it with a three carp net from peg 21, weighing 8-5-0, fishing waggler tactics close to the island John caught carp late on. He also managed a couple of small roach and rudd which were to prove vital in the end as it edged him ahead of Mike Spragg, who also landed three carp on waggler tactics from peg 3, which weighed 10-11-0. Unfortunately for Mike though he didn't manage any silver fish and could only finish second under the new scoring system.

Veteran angler Tom Hawker finished third with 4-14-0 (2-14-0). Tom included one carp and several small skimmers and roach in his net.

Jim Williams returned to the contest scene by taking a single carp on the pole for 4-3-0 (1-0-0) for fourth spot.

The latest round of the Spring League was won by Chris Loveridge from peg 20. Chris used waggler tactics and despite only landing one carp, he backed this up with a nice net of skimmers, roach and rudd for an adjusted winning weight of 4-1-0 (1-0-0 carp).

Second spot went to Tom Hawker, who fished a maggot feeder to the island from peg 3 to take two carp.

Third place went to John Wagstaff, who managed to net one small carp and some roach for 1-4-0 (1-0-0 carp).

The league now switches to Wednesday evenings but there is a silver fish only contest tomorrow (Saturday), draw 2pm at the pool.