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How to catch F1’s in winter

Discover how staying on the move will help catch more F1's in the cold

by Jonathan Longden |

Updated on16th January 2026 at 3.22pm

F1's can be a pleasure-and-pain species once the water cools. On the one hand they keep you ticking over when the carp have shut up shop. On the other, they can be infuriating because the bites are rarely positive and the fish rarely settle.

You’ll have days when you know they’re in the swim. You see the little swirls, you get a couple of tiny dips, maybe you even nick one, and then it all goes quiet again. You change the bait, change the depth, change the rig, and still you feel like you’re one step behind. That’s the big lesson with winter F1s. You cannot get stubborn. If you sit on one spot, at one depth, hoping they come back, you’ll spend the session biteless.

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Start off dobbing

Once winter arrives its standard practice to start dobbing for F1s, usually with bread, because it’s such a quick way to get answers. You can drop in quietly, hold everything still, and you soon learn whether the fish are actually sat there or just passing through.

If an area dies, don’t immediately write it off. A few maggots or a pinch of micros can sometimes spark a second spell, but the bigger point is to use dobbing to search the whole peg, not just one spot. Don’t just drop tight to features either. Quite often the deeper water just off a feature is where F1s feel safest, especially if there’s a hint of tow that keeps them drifting along.

AS WELL AS USING BREAD, THERE ARE LOTS OF GREAT BAITS FOR DOBBING ON THE POLE.

Find the right depth

Depth is critical with F1s, so spending time with the plummet can pay dividends. Nine times out of 10 there’s a precise feeding depth, but it changes all the time. One day it might be 3ft, then 24 hours later they’ll only respond in 5ft. If you start at 5ft and get no signs after five minutes, move up to 3ft and repeat the process. Keep rotating until you land on the depth that produces proper bites rather than little dinks and dips.

THERE ARE SOME GREAT F1 VENUES THAT FISH WELL ALL WINTER, READ OUR WHERE TO FISH GUIDES TO FIND OUT MORE!

Move about

Early in a session it’s rare to catch lots of F1s off the same exact spot. The secret is being quick to move. When bites dry up, don’t delay, just shift metre to the left or right and drop back in. By rotating lines and depths you’re trying to relocate the fish, and in my experience once you catch a few they haven’t gone far, they’ve just drifted or backed off slightly onto a different line.

CATCH MORE F1'S WITH THE BEST POLE RIGS FOR F1'S.

Fish the short line

A short pole line with maggots is always worth having set up. Feed it by hand and keep it quiet. The earlier you can nick one or two there, the better chance you’ve got of it coming into play later in the session.

Six sections is a good starting point, then trickle a few maggots throughout the day so it’s primed for the last hour. On stronger pegs you can catch on it for a long spell, but even on hard days it’s a brilliant insurance policy when the main line slows down.

YOU DON'T NEED AN EXPENSIVE POLE FOR FISHING THE SHORT LINE, HERE ARE SOME OF THE BEST POLES UNDER £1000.

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