ROY Bouston was a popular member of both Malvern and Hanley Castle angling clubs, so there was an excellent turnout to fish his memorial contest on Hanley Castle's stretch of the Severn.

With heavy midweek rain, the river was in good condition having risen but was now dropping off nicely whilst still retaining some colour. Despite the good conditions, most competitors struggled to get bites.

Drawn towards the end of the stretch in the deeper water, Mike Spragg set his stall out for bream by employing a groundbait feeder and caster approach with maggot on the hook. He was rewarded with two good fish, both close to the 5lb mark, early in the contest.

Despite this early run of fish, as the sun became brighter the fish seemed to switch off and Mike had no more bites until 20 minutes from the end of the match when he landed two bream around the 2lb mark. Mike's four fish tipped the scales at 15-12-0 and was enough for victory on the day.

In second place was former MUAA chairman Dennis Flanagan, who also used a groundbait feeder to take three good bream late on in the contest for 11-11-0.

Third spot went to Hanley Castle stalwart and Dick Oakley. He landed one good bream around five pounds along with a couple of small skimmers and eels on a groundbait feeder to weigh 6-10-0.

Thanks go to Ellen Reynolds, of Alan's Tackle in Worcester, for generously donating a rod and tackle vouchers to the winners.

MUAA members made their annual pilgrimage to the river Wye at Bredwardine on the previous Sunday.

The Wye is a lovely river with fast glides and rapids or deep pools, containing chub, barbel and a huge head of dace and bleak, so plenty of options for the angler. Conditions on the day were good with the river carrying a few inches of extra water, ideal for trotting a float, one of the most enjoyable disciplines in angling.

Richard Webster used his knowledge of the venue to select a likely swim in the early part of the stretch which he tackled with a stick float and maggot on the hook. Richard managed to get the dace feeding and caught well all day to put an excellent 31-3-0 on the scales to win the day. Richard's bag also included a 4lb pike that took a liking to his maggot hookbait.

Another really good net of dace was taken by Neil Humpage in second place, who waded out into mid river just below the bridge to land 25-8-0 on a crowquill avon float with maggot on the hook, and still had time to direct boat traffic around him.

Chris Loveridge used different tactics to finish third, Chris legered breadflake under the far bank trees to land four big chub all of around 4lb, the biggest was a lovely conditioned fish weighing 4-7-0. He then turned his attention to the dace on the float and finished with a nice bag of 22-1-0.

Fourth place went to Wye regular Dennis Flanagan who fished a feeder with caster on the hook to land four chub and a barbel of 5-1-0 for 15-6-0 from the stretch's top end.