Elphick’s Fishery
...but Elphicks offers something for all angling tastes
IF YOU fancy catching one of the biggest carp in the UK for the price of a day ticket, Elphick’s Fisheries is surely the place to head for! Swimming around in the North Lake at this Kent complex is the Big Girl, a mirror carp that has been caught at over 60lb. But there’s far more than just that one fish to target. The West End Lake has recently produced a 50lb linear mirror, not to mention the many 20lb and 30lb fish across all six lakes on site.
Small wonder, then, that the specimen lakes prove so popular with carp anglers from across the UK, and with an attractive range of tickets on offer from a simple day session to a full week – plus great facilities– Elphick’s is very much the ultimate modern day fishery.
Each lake has its own parking within easy reach of swims and pegs are ‘all-weather’ – built of Astroturf, stone or bark – to make for a pleasant day when the weather takes a turn for the worse! The Fishery Lodge carries drinks, snacks and sweets, and is stocked with the latest bait and terminal tackle.
Ladies, Gents and disabled toilet facilities are provided within the Lodge and are open from 7am daily until closing time – there’s even a shower for overnight anglers. Portable toilets serve every lake out of hours and are professionally cleaned every week.
The Lodge and several areas of the lakes have been designed with the disabled angler in mind. The building has a shallow access ramp, extra-wide doors with no sills and a fully-fitted disabled toilet. Several of the lakes have hard ramps and level all-weather swims to facilitate the use of wheelchairs. Open all year, seven days a week (except for a Christmas break), gates open from 7am-7pm in the summer.
Carp anglers can pick from the Kettles, Pullen’s, North, Prairie or West End Lakes. Carp to 60lb plus big tench and perch and massive catfish are in the North Lake. Pullen’s and West End have minimal pegs to make for a quiet session, but pleasure and match anglers are well looked after with the Sandwich and Plantation Lakes.
Sandwich is a 20-peg silverfish lake holding tench, bream, big perch, roach, rudd, chub, orfe and even dace. This lake hosts many matches.
Plantation is a well-stocked carp water holding six swims. It was designed as an introduction to specimen carp fishing, and there are a good number of decent carp to go at.