CHRIS Loveridge won Malvern Angling Club's Ashwin Cup on the opening day of the season fished on the River Severn at Hanley Castle.

Competitors found conditions far from ideal with too much colour in the river due to recent heavy storms. However what was encouraging was the amount of bream caught albeit in small numbers which augurs well for future competitions when the river fines down.

Chris was fishing at peg 27 using an open ended swim feeder and caught an all bream catch weighing 5lb 12oz.

Ian Goddard came second losing by just one ounce weighing in at 5lb 11oz of bream caught at peg 22.

Third place went to Dennis Flanagan who never had a bite until the last half an hour and then had three bream in three casts and lost a good fish in a snag to weigh in at 4lb 12oz.

The next contest is the Saturday Scramble fished at Mathon pool followed by the Wednesday evening Scramble fished on the River Severn at Hanley Castle.