Results

Home team take first round victory.
Eight teams of four lined the banks for this opening round of the 2013-14 Larford Lakes Winter League series. Thirty two anglers pegged equally across both Match and Specimen lakes went head-to-head in a bid to start their campaign strongly and break into an early lead.

Conditions on the day were not ideal with a frost the previous day having cleared the water coupled with a low and very bright winter sun. However, that said, there were some fantastic weights recorded from both lakes with over 100lbs needed to win any one of the four sections. As has been the case recently, the Specimen lake out-fished the Match lake with some truly impressive weights being recorded.

Winner overall on the day was Team Garbolino's Neil McKinnon. Neil drew peg 56 in 'D' section on the Speci chalet bank and weighed in an impressive 166lbs 10oz to beat the rest of the section by a comfortable margin and earn a valuable point.

Neil caught skimmers long at 14.5m on pole and pellet before switching to his margins with two hours to go to find quality carp on maggot fished over groundbait.

Garbolino team mate Richie Hull drew peg 8 on the Speci burr bank to weigh in an equally impressive 138lbs 14oz. Richie also fished pole and pellet long to catch skimmers before switching to his margins late on to boost his weight.

Ray Lamb (Maver Larford) secured a valuable section win in section 'A' on the Match grass bank from peg 22 weighing in 144lbs 14oz to finish just ahead of Ted Carter's (Southport) rod, Dave McManus.

Dave drew neighbouring peg 20 and ensured a fourth place finish overall and two points from section 'A' with 112lbs 9oz.

Fifth on the day was Neil Morgan (Cumbran Nobblers) managing a section win from 'B' section with 111lbs 9oz to contribute a valuable single point to an impressive opening round score from the Welsh side.

Despite weighing 106lbs 3oz and clinching a valuable two point score to go some way to salvage a difficult first round for the team, Malcolm Jeffries of Wyre Forest found himself in sixth place overall!

Individual Result:
1 Neil McKinnon (Garbolino) 166-10-00 (peg 56)   
2 Richie Hull (Garbolino) 138-14-00 (peg 8)   
3 Ray Lamb (Maver Larford) 114-14-00 (peg 22)   
4 Dave McManus (Ted Carter's) 112-09-00 (peg 20)   
5 Neil Morgan (Nobblers) 111-09-00 (peg 55)   
6 Malc Jeffries (Wyre Forest) 106-03-00 (peg 69)   

Team Result:

Such was the standard of fishing during the opening round of the competition, the top two placed sides were tied, each scoring 13 points. As such, weight would be the deciding factor, but even then, there was very little daylight between the two sides.

A quick totalling of the weights confirmed Maver Larford had done just enough to secure overall victory with a cumulative weight of 314lbs 7oz - just 4lbs 2oz ahead of second placed Cumbran Nobblers! A section win from Ray Lamb, plus strong performances from both Brian Jones and Chris Bradney saw the team top the field by the narrowest of margins.

Equally impressive performances from Neil Morgan and A. Perkins, who scored three points between them, ensured Cumbran Nobblers a strong second place finish on the day, marking a fantastic start for the team.

Despite massive efforts from both Neil McKinnon and Richie Hull, Team Garbolino could only manage third overall on the day finishing on fourteen points. A difficult 'B' section saw Carl Brooks score seven points weighing in just 36lbs 10oz and team Captain, Darren Cox, five points from the wrong end of 'A' section with 65lbs 9oz. It really was a match of two halves for the Garbolino squad with a perfect two point score taken from the Specimen lake coupled with a disappointing twelve point score from Match lake.

So, after the opening round of the series, there is very little to choose from between the top three sides. Ted Carter's Southport are also looking a strong side and have plenty of experience of the venue between them - none more so than Mega 'Match This' finalist John Brogden.

Match Fishing Scene Green Army, Wyre Forest and Fran's 4 have got it all to do and Sheila's Boys have left themselves with an awful lot of ground to make up.

Round 2 takes place on Sunday 24th November.