Where To Fish: Alders Farm

When the water is still cold in late winter and early spring it can be very hard to know what approach is going to be best on the day.

We can have day time temperatures well into double figures one day, but the next you could be faced with a harsh ground frost that knocks the fishing back again.

During these months where the weather can change daily, you need to be covering all options when you visit a commercial venue if you want to catch consistently throughout the day.

Choosing the right venues to fish during the winter is all important and today I’ve bought you to a real winter gem in the shape of Alders Farm Fishery in Buckinghamshire. With three main lakes plus some smaller pools on site, it’s Ash and Pine lakes which match anglers flock to for amazing year-round sport!


Set in stunning countryside, Alders is packed with carp of all sizes, loads of skimmers and unusually, massive numbers of perch, which can often win the silvers prizes on the open matches during the winter, this place has it all.

With a fully stocked tackle shop providing all the tackle and baits you could possibly need for a day’s fishing you can also pick the brains of fishery manager, Trevor Price, who knows the place like the back of his hand.

Today I’ve come along to have a few hours fishing on Ash Lake, during the summer months this is a venue that produces huge match weights, but in the winter, it can be tough despite the number of fish in this lake.


With the water still very clear and the weather turning cold once again, I need to ensure I give myself the best possible chance of finding not only where the fish will be but also the best feeding tactic on the day keeping in mind that putting fish in the net consistently is usually the way to win!

In this kind of scenario, having multiple options available to you is invaluable in achieving this and rotating different areas of your peg to fish for different fish and at different times of the match is so important and that’s what I hope to demonstrate in this feature.

On my left-hand line, I’m going to feed a single ball of Thatchers groundbait with a few pinkies included which will give me the chance of catching some skimmers and an odd carp if the fishing is harder than expected.

On the right-hand line, I’m going to loose feed maggots with a catapult all day long which will also give me a chance of catching everything that swims but with a focus on catching carp later in the session as they move closer to the bank as the light fades.

My rig is super simple too and features a 0.4g MAP Deck One float with strung out shot to give a natural fall to the rig in the clear water tied up on 0.15mm MAP Optimum Power to a six inch 0.11mm hook length.


This is relatively light for the 3-6lb fish I expect to catch, but I’ve always been sure that fishing light gets more bites in the cold. A size 18 hook finishes the set up perfect for single or double red maggot hook baits.

When you’re fishing light, a forgiving elastic is also important so today I’ve selected a 6-10 MAP TKS Twin Core hollow which is ideal for fishing with light gear and making sure every fish ends up in the net.



Treasure Islands!

The other part of covering my options on commercials at this time of year is to fish several feeder lines. During the summer the fish will actively seek your fed area so this is when fishing down one hole all day is a great idea, during the winter months it’s all about finding the fish as they will not come to you!


Today I’ve got a couple of islands in front of me, this offers plenty of options when it comes to catching bursts of fish from each line, on the left-hand side of the island I’ve clipped my Parabolix Black Edition Pro 10ft Feeder rod with a 24g small Embed Method Feeder.

This is the ideal feeder type for this time of year as it holds the bait within the bowl and means if a fish eats the feed, the hook bait inevitably ends up in its mouth! 


The left-hand side will be my starting line, but if I get a run of bites and they dry up, I can simply have a chuck to the middle of the islands and then again to the right-hand side and rotate these areas to keep bites coming as the fish back off.

Although you’re fishing a feeder, you have to remember that a small Embed feeder is the equivalent to a small pole pot of bait that you would tap in on the pole, so rotating lines and starting new ones is no different.

As much as swapping between lines is important, it’s also vital that you keep switching hook baits too!


Today, I’ve used a range of different colour Sonubaits Micro Bandum wafters in various colours which have produced bites but I have also had success with three live maggots on the hook.

The Session

To kick things off, I potted a ball of groundbait plus some pinkies and a few maggots on the left-hand pole line at 14.5m and I’m going to loose feed the right hand swim from the off.


My starting line is going to be on the Embed feeder a few feet short of the island baited with a yellow wafter, usually you can get a few early fish by heading to cover and so it proved today with a flurry of small 2-4lb commons coming to the net which, on a cold day is more than welcome. 

As is often the case, the bites dried up so a switch of hook bait to a pink wafter and a cast away from my initial line to another spot against the island soon saw me into bites again. It just goes to show that you’re never far from a few fish at this time of year, but you have to seek them out to get the most from your peg.


After a couple of hours fishing on the feeder and 12 carp in the net, it was time to see if the pole lines had kicked in yet.

Dropping in on the loose feed line with a single red maggot, I flicked the rig past the pole tip and allowed the strung-out shotting pattern to settle on a tight line, as soon as the float settled, the dotted down tip dinked under and a small skimmer was hooked.

The fish really do watch the bait fall in clear water, particularly when loose feeding, so by keeping the rig tight on the drop it accentuates this and leads to more bites.


A few more skimmers followed and it prompted me to go onto the groundbait line, if it was going to be a good day, the skimmers would be present in numbers over the small bed of feed.

To my surprise, this didn’t produce many bites at all, and I can only put this down to the cold night putting the fish off slightly. Nevertheless, on another day this would have been a great move so by feeding the two lines completely different I always give myself a chance.


After a few more skimmers I reverted back onto the feeder for a few more bites, but with an hour left of the session, it was carp o’clock!

With less liners and bites on the feeder it was clear those carp had moved away from the island in search of food and in this situation that loose fed pole line can come good. 

As I mentioned earlier, during the winter it’s all about fishing the right areas of your peg at the right time, and this tell-tale sign was enough for me to make a move.



Dropping in with double red maggot a few bubbles gave away the presence of some fish and it wasn’t long before my bright yellow elastic was stretching out of the pole tip as a carp made its first run.

I had an excellent end to the session catching a number of decent carp on the pole, and it just goes to show that by keeping your options open, swapping and changing baits and having plenty of lines on the go, you can keep catching even when the fishing isn’t easy.

Alders Farm is an excellent winter venue and even in the coldest conditions you can be assured of some bites, today being no exception! Keep your options open, don’t be too selective and you won’t go wrong during the colder months.