Warwickshire Avon - Hedonism and Hebdomadally

Now back in the acid house era, an era to never to be repeated Wobble was probably my favourite ever local nightclub.

It was a Birmingham institution that lasted many years and still had a loyal following who still attend the yearly reunion and other small events when sadly a little like my DJ'ing it eventually it fizzled out.

My DJ'ing set-up complete with terracotta walls and paper thin curtains !!!!

Still brilliant memories of those clubbing years and some great shared experiences with the likeminded.

Now wobble had the same kind of values as many ravers of that generation, they weren't afraid to take risks, they were hedonistic and lived life to the full, acid junkies who didn't play by the rules, house music was played downstairs and techno upstairs, it really was a one off club. 

'WOBBLE'  you see a very surreal experience and very unique in it's make-up, no other club could offer the same attribute despite others trying to put their own heads above that rave parapet.

It was called Wobble for a good reason the dance floor used to 'Wobble' you see.

Now the opening hours of 11pm through to 7am gave the DJ's a lot of time to span musical genres where the resident DJ's played the majority of the night with guests normally taking up 90 mins or 2 hours of the near 8 hour marathon weekly event for over 10 Years.

Josh Wink, Nick Warren, Andy Weatherall, Jon Pleased Wimmin,  Dave Seaman, Tall Paul, Alex P. Brandon Block, Jeremy Healy they all played there.

When it shut at 7am, where to go, what to do ? well Sundissential stupid, the event started as an after normal club hours event and exploited loopholes in licensing laws to allow alcohol to be sold on a Sunday morning to clubbers at this time.

Tony De Vit did the opening night at Sundissential and it grew very quickly. It was very colourful, clubbers dressed up as ballerinas or Elton John certainly an eyeopener in Brum as on route they were rubbing shoulders with church frequenters.

DJ's Andy Farley, Lisa Lashes and Fergie as well as Tony De Vit responsible for making made hard house as popular as it is today.

My genre changed to music a little more progressive with sound systems more to my ear and DJ more sophisticated, Digweed and Lawler the mainstay , still, the love of repetitive beats remains to this day.

Only those who was there during those years and know the true magic and harmony shared by a elite set of people from every conceivable walk of life, the change in society back then compared to now really is quite staggering.

A decent fish caught here at the start of the season.

The Instagram generation really would struggle with the overall concept and experience now I'm sure.

Anyway back to fishing a chance conversation with an elderly Gentleman at a local club stretch this week he shared some experiences over the 30 years he'd been a member and it was a bit of an eye opener to tell you the truth.

80lb bags of Chub and Barbel a frequent experience in the matches, his best Barbel heading towards 17lb and it wasn't uncommon to catch 5-10 barbel a session such the biomass of the river at that time, like the rave days, an era never to be forgotten, it was called Barbel Alley for a good reason,

However over the years the decline in Barbel numbers is quite clear to see, catch rates well down from what they were. Will they return who knows, ever increasing water extraction, farmland run off and introduced predation certainly didn't help matters, the only saving grace there are still fish to be caught, some good'uns too. 

Then again maybe it isn't all bad you see, fishing shouldn't be easy should it, I question those overstocked commercial venue anglers, fishing in what is effectively a fish tank, a keepnet full of barbel (yes really) and carp commonplace it seems, yeap fill you're boots, slap your poles, you're welcome to it.

Now talking of boots, it's been tough as old boots at the syndicate stretch of late, despite catching a double figure Barbel and Carp a couple or three trips in, since then try as I might it's been very hard fishing indeed. Some small Chub have succumbed to the bait but no more Barbel and even a try of a deadbait a couple of times in to dusk and beyond, nothing on that line of attack.

Ok the conditions are not brilliant for Barbel certainly but come dusk I did expect a little more reward for ones effort. So for this session post a sprinkling of rain and a temperature drop I would see what I could winkle out.

Garlic infused spam on one rod, a paste wrapped boilie and a groundbait feeder on the other rod. 10.00pm was the curfew I set myself, so at least an hour and a half of proper dark, enough time to catch something decent surely Shirley ? Well only one way to find out, better get the rods out.

Before I got the mainline of attack out I like using the lure rod for half an hour or so to see what I could pick up and some perch were up for a scrap again, 4 or 5 caught from one particular deeper swim to avoid the blank.

Dusk and beyond though again was an odd'un here. Within a few minutes of having the meat rod out quite a powerful bite ensued that I assume was a chub, but then that was basically it. No fish topping of note, no pulls or taps on the boilie rod, in complete contrast to a stretch not far away from here.

Still, the sky was clear, the satellites, shooting stars and the odd bolt of lightning on the horizon kept me entertained.

It was a cold one too, 7 degrees when I left but with the light winter gear on I was perfectly fine. The air so cold it felt the predator rods could well be dusted off soon. I've not given up on the Barbel totally yet because the majority of doubles I've caught have been in January when the banks are quieter and the fish hungrier.

So the weekend not far away, where to go ? what to do ?