Plenty of the usual catfish and bass were biting at Irvine Lake this week, and a new lake record was set for one of the Orange County impoundment’s “alternate species”, reported Whitney Curry at the Pro Shop. “We had a pair of monster carp caught and released this week”, observed Curry. “One of them went 37 pounds, and was so big it set a new lake record for the species at Irvine Lake. For the last several weeks, a few secretive anglers have been applying advanced European specialty carp techniques, and have been doing very well. Not everybody here in the USA knows that carp are actually the world’s most popular game fish.”

Curry added, “Anglers are doing very well on both bass and catfish from shore. The largemouth and also a few wipers have even been boiling on shad along the west shore.”

Most catfish anglers have been concentrating on the west shoreline for decent stringers of 3 to 6-pound eating-size fish. The usual baits like mackerel and shrimp have been productive, and a popular new rig is fishing a chunk of liver under a bobber.

Bass anglers roamed a number of different spots, including the back of the flats and the far end of the west shore. Poppers and other topwaters were the most common choice for bassers. Most bass reported were largemouth in the 2 to 4-pound range, with some larger fish reported chasing swimbaits.

Families with children age 12 and under found fair numbers of 1 to 3-pound catfish in the Kids Lagoon on marshmallow/mealworm combos. The Kids Lagoon will be re-stocked this week, and the main lake is re-stocked every week. The public is reminded that due to a change in insurance regulations, no boats or watercraft of any kind are currently permitted on the lake.

The 2015-16 public Trout Season Opener will take place on Friday, October 30. Thousands of pounds of beautiful Nebraska Tailwalker rainbow trout will be stocked just prior to the opener, and then re-stocked weekly all winter long.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

Tim O’Donnell of Fullerton, 13-1 channel catfish on mackerel at the flats
Alex Ishi of Santa Ana, 7-5 largemouth bass [released] on a swimbait at the west shore.
Luis Montes of Orange, 37-0 and 26-0 carp [both released] on vanilla boilies at the west shore.
Mitz Onizuka of Irvine, 1-8 bluegill on redworms at the west shore.
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