WHY I LOVE...
Rich in underwater features and vibrant with aquatic life, mature gravel pits are Darran Goulder’s idea of pure angling heaven
Gravel pits by Darran Goulder
WHILE still being worked, a gravel pit can look a bit like an industrial lunar landscape, with noisy machinery everywhere and huge clouds of dust filling the air.
It makes a pretty inhospitable environment for any living creature, but once the pits are abandoned and fill up with water they take on a very different perspective, often becoming an angling paradise within a few short years.
I have a long-standing love for these venues. When I was a youngster, I cut my teeth fishing on a large, unforgiving, totally wild and very deep pit.
Floatfishing was almost impossible due to the rate at which the water shelved away a rodlength or so from the bank. Using slider floats or fishing on the drop for perch was our normal approach and, despite the fishing being so difficult, we kept going back, season after season, because of the sheer size of the fish we’d seen in there, but failed so miserably to catch.
Once they’re left to mature, gravel pits take on an almost majestic status. That once man-made hole in the ground becomes a thriving, peaceful environment enriched by a huge variety of flora and fauna, above and below the surface. They can be tough going, but that’s what makes them so exciting.
There are few, if any, more satisfying angling experiences in my eyes than sitting behind the rods on an early spring dawn, watching the sky turn from deep blue to crimson as the sun creeps over the treeline and steam rises from the water’s surface, with just the morning chorus of birdsong for company.
It’s at this special time that your target fish often give away their presence by leaping clear of the water to shatter the blissful silence, or send up sheets of pinprick bubbles as they rip up the bottom to feed. At this hour you’ll always find me clutching a steaming cup of freshly-made tea and scanning the pit, sometimes reflecting on the previous night’s successes
or, conversely, questioning what I did wrong. But such an idyllic scenario can change in a heartbeat. When a low-pressure front rolls in, accompanied by gale-force south-westerlies and driving rain, in a matter of minutes you can go from a state of calm reverie to holding on to your brolly or bivvy for dear life!
Gravel pits have an incredible history of producing fish of record proportions, and of all species too. It’s this incredible potential that’s one of their most appealing aspects. Homework is always carried out well in advance on such places. Aerial maps are studied, wind directions considered and countless hours spent tirelessly casting a marker float out to find the many sub-surface features that often litter the lakebed.
The location of islands, large plateaux and gravel bars – all of which the fish use to navigate their way round the pit – is carefully noted in preparation for hopefully tracking down the fish of my dreams.
Weed growth can be extreme, but the fish are never too far away from these lush aquatic forests as they offer a huge larder of natural food, and a roof over their heads. Despite the often expansive nature of gravel pits, it always pays to tread lightly and keep noise levels down on the bank, as even the biggest fish in the venue will regularly use the deep margins as part of their daily rounds.
It’s the combination of all these factors, and more, that make gravel pits so appealing to me and such a highlight of my fishing year. Although they can pose major logistical challenges due to their raw and wild nature, those trials and tribulations are soon forgotten when you witness the fruits of your labours cradled in the bottom of the landing net... whether that’s a massive bream or the mother of all tench in spring, a monster summer eel, or perhaps something more delicate like a 3lb roach or rudd. Gravel pits offer the lot, and it’s that element of surprise that is the magic ingredient. You simply don’t know what’s going to pick up your hookbait next – it could be a fish that hasn’t been caught for years, or even a record-breaker!
Even if the fish aren’t feeding, there are very few more pleasant places to just sit by the water and relax than a mature, overgrown pit. They’re the perfect setting for becoming absorbed by the surrounding nature and switching off the stresses that modern life brings… until the float dips or the bite alarm sings, and with a bent rod you’re promptly reminded why you were sat there there in the first place!