Ashton Reservoir

[Groundtrac]

Fished Ashton Res for about 4 hours today, fished near the buoy line by the dam very close to shore.  Iced around 8, all small, biggest at 15 inches.  This was my first time fishing here.  Ice was good, 18 inches, just a little snow on top.  Saw lots of groups fishing, no idea how they were doing.  There were several groups that walked across the dam and were fishing right up close.  I plan to give it another shot next week, but I might walk a ways and try to find a better spot.  It really drops off fast, I was mostly catching the little bank cruisers.  If anyone has some tips or advice for this body of water, I'm all ears.

[Groundtrac]

Fished Ashton Res again today for 4 hours. Ice is a good 18 inches. I did fish very close to the shore today again, but we walked across to the east side.  Our spot today was quite a bit better than saturday and we brought home 2 limits of 14 to 16 inch rainbows.  Everything was caught on pink and white, but mostly pink. I parked on the access road just past the dam that takes you right down to the lake. I put a couple lines out deeper but they didn't yield anything. I guess that brings up a question; when you are fishing a really deep area, 40+ feet, do you tend to catch anything coming off the bottom, or are the fish generally up in the water column farther? I'm talking trout, not perch or anything. I generally had these two deeper lines down maybe 2 feet off the bottom. Anyway, the sun was nice, it was a nice day to fish for a few hours.

[golfmechhs]

Thanks for the reports Groundtrac. How is the access? In years past it has been quite sketchy. Thanks

[Groundtrac]

People were parking right at the substation on the west side there and walking across the dam to get on.  This must be kind of a popular choice because both days I saw lots of people doing this.  I turned on the dirt road just past that access and you can drive right down to the waters edge, or park at the top of the little hill and walk down the road.  If that little road got a bunch of snow on it I could see that it might get a little rough, I would definitely just park at the top and walk down in, it isn't far.  I wish I knew of an access on the other side, up the reservoir quite aways.  Anyway, it has been a fun place to fish for a couple of trips, somewhere I haven't been and interesting to try and figure out a little.  Lookin for a big brown out of there though!

[golfmechhs]

When I have fished it in the past I always parked at the substation and went across the dam. That is what everyone was doing so I didn't know any better. Didn't even know there was any other access. Will have to check that out. Fishing close to the dam always felt really weird to me. If you go again PM me and let me know. I also would love to get a nice brown out of there. My plans for this saturday are to hit the Palisades for kokanee again. You are more than welcome to join. Talk to you soon.
Arnold