# Ashtebula



## Hockeyhunter99 (Oct 11, 2007)

a buddy of mine and i are going to Valley for the day. wondering if the water level has come down and are the fish biting lately. are you able or unable to launch at certain places. is the crossing still open to pick up bait and beer?


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## greenc (Mar 20, 2008)

yes the crossing is open but wouldnt waste your time with the bula fishing is dead was there sat and sun nothing only bullheads tried everything from cranks too slipbobbers i would go south and try twinlakes i here fishing there has been pretty decent


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## Tracker_21 (Oct 17, 2008)

What is the main food source in there for walleye?


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## Hockeyhunter99 (Oct 11, 2007)

went to ashtabula today. bullheads the size of catfish. one smallmouth bass to every 15 bullhead caught. bula is not a walleye place. we went from jigging the creek to trolling the crossing to spinners at sibly to shads at bayshore to pitching spoons at the face to drifting all the way back. we tried everything. bullheads on worms, minnows, and leaches. the only thing i didn't catch a bullhead on was GULP!. beautiful day to be at the lake though. can't complain. its always better than working.


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## HUNTNFISHND (Mar 16, 2004)

Tracker_21 said:


> What is the main food source in there for walleye?


Perch, crawfish, baby bullheads.


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## Backwater Eddy (Jun 16, 2003)

Bullheads area a significant forage base for the walleye on Lake Ashtabula and on the upper Sheyenne River basin. As are White Bass, Yellow Perch, Fathead minnows, and young Freshwater Drum in the lower basin. Different sections of the reservoir tend to have different forage preferences seasonally.

You will often find that Gold/Black, Dace/Blue, Yellow Zebra, Pink or Black Tiger, Chartreuse Dace, Pearl White, and Black/Silver colored cranks produce well during most of the summer and fall. _Gold's appear to do well once the algae bloom starts to take hold._

#4 Salmo Hornets _(Floating models)_ ran 4' behind a bottom bouncer or 10' behind #18 lead core can do well as do #5 and #6 _(Floating and Sinking models) _Hornets straight line trolling and casting.

I'm not a big fan of pulling bouncers with spinners, but they often do well rigged with crawlers, Berkley Power Crawlers, and Gulp Leech's during early and mid summer. If the Bullies are especially pesky, or the smaller perch peck away at the crawlers, the Gulp or Berkley Power Crawlers will hold up better tell a walleye finds them.

Lake Ashtabula has a good walleye population, it's just they do very particular seasonal patterns, so you need to keep sharp and stay on them to figure out what they might be up to next.

They best rule is once they reach post spawn..."It's all about the food"...find the easy food, you will find the walleye near...someplace.


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## Hockeyhunter99 (Oct 11, 2007)

i have also heard to "follow the birds" as in where the pelicans are feeding there will also be walleyes. is there any truth in that or just old fishermen being old fishermen.


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## Backwater Eddy (Jun 16, 2003)

Actually that is a fairly good call.

Gulls or Pelicans will point out concentrations of forage, and walleye will likely be close at hand.


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