THE latest two cup contests on the Malvern United Angling Association's calender saw very different fortunes for members.

The first was the Fitzwater Cup, which this year was held on a Saturday afternoon on the Severn at Holdfast, hopefully to avoid the hottest part of the day, although bites were still extremely hard to come by.

Drawn on peg 16, Mike Spragg fished for bream with a groundbait feeder, and left it very late to win and make it two cup wins in a row.

It was only in the last 15 minutes of the contest that Mike had his first bite but it turned out to be a nice bream weighing 4-11-0, three eels swiftly followed to give a lowly winning weight of 5-13-0.

In second spot was Neil Humpage who had done well to scrape together a mixed bag of eels, perch, and small skimmers from peg 9. Neil put 4-0-0 on the scales

Third place went to Ian Goddard from peg 15 with a mixed net caught on the feeder weighing 2-4-0.

The latest cup match was the Taylor Cup held on the Avon at Birlingham and sport couldn't have been more different.

Drawn at the top end of the stretch on peg 6 Chris Loveridge showed he is the man to beat when it comes to catching bream, by landing 15 of them. Chris employed groundbait feeder tactics and tipped a whopping 46-0-0 onto the scales to take the cup by some margin. This was the third 40lb+ weight of bream that Chris has taken from the venue in as many years.

A way behind in second was club treasurer John Shaw on peg 10 who netted one bream and a few skimmers for a weight of 10-12-0. Third place went to Neil Humpage who despite being troubled by pike all day pole fished his way to a lovely bag of mainly roach with a couple of skimmers weighing 8-1-0 from peg 40.

The Wednesday night Sandford series continues with matches on the Avon and Severn, the first being on the Avon where Ian Goddard came out on top courtesy of a good bream weighing 5-6-0, along with a nice net of feeder caught skimmers to give him a winning weight of 9-3-0 from peg 22. Second place went to Mike Spragg who also fished a feeder in peg 27 to net 4-9-0 of skimmers.

Third spot was taken by Neil Humpage who caught tiny skimmers on the feeder from peg 40 and weighed 2-9-0.

The latest round was held on the Severn in blistering temperatures despite the evening start time. As expected the fish were sluggish and only the ever-hungry eels and bleak were willing to feed.

Paul Bick took a net consisting of these fish, first targeting bleak on the surface before fishing a maggot feeder for the eels.This tactic proved successful as Paul won the match with 4-8-0 from peg 10 Dennis Flanagan was runner up from peg 18 with a similar net for 4-1-0. Mike Spragg took third place with just 0-15-0.

The next club contest is the Chairman's Cup on Sunday, August 6, at Holdfast. Draw 7am, fish 8-1pm.