The Yateley Complex is a working

gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used either ...

and a series of fishing lakes at

Yateley Yateley () is a town and civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. It lies in the north-eastern corner of Hart District Council area. It includes the settlements of Frogmore and Darby Green to the east. It had a population of 21,011 at ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, England, operated by

CEMEX CEMEX S.A.B. de C.V., known as Cemex, is a Mexican multinational building materials company headquartered in San Pedro, near Monterrey, Mexico. It manufactures and distributes cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates in more than 50 countries ...

, the world's largest building materials supplier. The fishing side of the facility is under the management of CEMEX Angling, a subsidiary of the main company. CEMEX Angling operates 11 lakes at the site, which includes part of the River Blackwater and is stocked with a variety of fish. Around 5000 anglers a year visit the complex, which was also home to

Heather the Leather Heather the Leather (1960 – 1 June 2010) was a 50-year-old scaleless (also known as leather) carp, described as "Britain's most famous fish" before Benson superseded them. Heather was an old and large carp, weighing and despite incorrect all ...

(a carp), described as "Britain's most famous fish". In addition to angling use, some of the gravel pits have been restored as sports pitches and some were nominated as potential allotment sites.

Angling

The complex contains the following fishing lakes: *North Lake *Sandhurst Lake *Pumphouse Lake *Horseshoe Lake (watersports only, no fishing is permitted) *Summer Pit *Tree Lakes (two lakes) *Nursery Lake *Split Lake *Match Lake *Car Park Lake Fishing is also allowed in the stretch of the River Blackwater that runs through the complex. The lakes are stocked with carp,

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Acanthopagrus'', ''Argyrops'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', ''Etelis'', '' L ...

tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also ...

rudd ''Scardinius'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without any further qualifiers is also used for individual species, particularly the common rudd (''S. erythrophthalmus''). Th ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive ...

, roach,

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

silver fish The Silver Fish Award is the highest adult award in Girlguiding. It is awarded for outstanding service to Girlguiding combined with service to world Guiding. The award has changed greatly since it first appeared in 1911, initially being awarde ...

and

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

. One can fish for silver fish, carp and

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprinid ...

in the Blackwater. The complex is popular with anglers and around 5000 fish at the site each year. Some of the individual lakes are famous in their own right. The Car Park Lake has been described as one of the most famous carp lakes in the country, whilst the Sandhurst lake won the "Best day ticket lake in Britain" award. Sandhurst lake, the newest in the complex, is available on a day ticket basis only with ticket available fro
Yateley Angling Centre

Heather the Leather

The complex was home to a 50-year-old scaleless (also known as leather) carp that has been described as "Britain's most famous fish". Heather was one of the oldest and largest carp in Great Britain and weighed .

Restoration

The CEMEX company has explored various means of restoration of the gravel pits after they have been exhausted. In addition to angling, they have restored some as cricket, football and hockey pitches which were donated to the local council for use as a park. As a result of this restoration the site won the Cooper Heyman cup for gravel pit restoration. In 2007 CEMEX offered a further of land to Yateley Town Council for use as allotments. This land was rejected by the council and a further site was offered in 2008.

References

{{authority control Recreational fishing in England Lakes of Hampshire