The August version of Battle of the Bars took place in warm conditions, but with Koh Samui have some evening rains the week before we all had the feeling the carp would be on the feed, no-one was prepared for the fishing that ensued.

There were a few last minute team changes, Paul’s wife Shona had a back issue so her young 16-year-old nephew, Callum stepped in for the Login Bar and Brian was under the weather (probably with altitude sickness the way his beloved Arsenal have started the season) so it was with many thanks that young Harry joined the Summerhouse team. Harry was with his dad fishing the Coconut Swim on the morning session when he had 14 fish. By coincidence he was with Eliot again on the same peg. He was to find the afternoon much harder but did land the estimated 70lb Mekong, which made his day.

The match started off fast with SWS making the early running from the Deep-Water peg but soon Mano (the fish whisperer) and Didi fishing for the French Kiss got racing from Redtail Haven, but not with Retails but Carp. SWS faded but the Login bar started making ground and at halfway stage, the French Kiss were over 100lb in the lead of the Login.

Elsewhere on the lake it was much quieter, especially Predator Corner, a swim that fishes so well in non-match conditions.

From about 4:30 to 5:30pm the lake went bananas which is apt because all the teams were on our new banana flavour boilies that our head of boilie production manager (Tadpole) managed to colour orange for some reason. I think Doy never got out of the water for that hour. I would like to thank him and the guides for looking after the fish so well in such a busy time.

The lake match record was in severe jeopardy as Login Bar went crazy and caught not only a larger stamp of Carp but also Calum put the net under an estimated 80lb bonus Mekong. But strangely for all customers the lake went quiet in the last 30 minutes and even the Login failed to catch a fish.

In the final reckoning Paul and Calum came up 10lb short of the record, held by the Login from the Feb 2022 event, but considering the fishless last half hour the winning 830lb weight was truly remarkable.

The numbers for this match are incredible, 64 fish, 4 species for 2600lb , an average of 40lb per fish, this is in 4 hours with one bait pack per team

Match Result:

League after 7 rounds is starting to look healthy for the Login Bar but they have some tougher draws to come

2022 League Table :