Rains come to Irvine Lake, bigger fish crowd tally board

The rains arrived at Irvine Lake on Wednesday morning, and the forecast is for another 3 or 4 days of on and off moisture. There are still plenty of the larger-grade fish on the menu for hardy anglers. "As of right now [10:30 AM Wednesday] all of our lakeshore roads [except the west shore road] are open", observed Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop.

"The roads are softening up a bit, so please call ahead for up to the minute conditions. We are seeing a much larger than normal quantity of the big trophy-class fish over 9 pounds. There were also some very good-size brook trout and steelhead being caught, and a few anglers even managed to score the ???Trout Grand Slam' with 3 different trout species in a single day."

The possibility of slightly murkier waters means that bait anglers need to go with slightly shorter 8 to 12-inch leaders. Top baits were inflated nightcrawlers and various constructions of the "Power Mouse". Trollers scored some fish on firetiger-color CD03 and CD05 Rapalas.

Fish were caught by both trollers and bait dunkers at Trout Island, along the west shore, near the docks and near the dam. Most trout were in the 1 to 6-pound category, but there was a virtual parade of trophy size ???bows from 7 to 12 pounds being brought to the scales daily.

Bass anglers continued to see signs of the early-spring bite breaking loose. Although the weekend effort was exclusively for trout, several mid-week bass anglers reported releasing as many as 30 largemouth up to 4 pounds per day, but many were smaller fish in the 1 to 1.5 pound class. The bass are moving up into the brush shallows, rock points and flooded road beds. Jigs, worms and dropshot baits are fooling most of the bass, and anglers are reminded that all bass species are strictly catch-and-release.

The warming weather has also spurred a few slabside crappie up to 2 pounds into biting, although most were incidental catches. The Kids Lagoon continues to be good on midsize trout for families with children age 12 and under.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Joshua Zalero of Westminster, 11.6 pound trout on nightcrawlers at Trout Island
Zack Germain of Garden Grove, 11.4 pound trout on a Power Mouse at the west shore
Marcellus Burton of Los Angeles, 11.2 pound trout on nightcrawlers at Trout Island
Fernando Lugo of Santa Ana, 11.1 pound trout on Power Bait at the flats
Dave Cicero of Orange, 11.0 pound trout on nightcrawlers at Trout Island
Garrett Evans of Norco, 10.9 pound trout on a Krocodile near the dam
Mike Cairns of Santa Ana, 10.3 pound trout on a Power Mouse at Trout Island
Ted Browt of Mission Viejo, 10.12 pound trout on Power Bait near the docks
John Zaldano of Westminster, 10.0 pound trout on a Power Worm at Trout Island
Jose Guitran of Long Beach, 10.0 pound trout on nightcrawlers at the flats
Jim Mercado of Pasadena, 9.9 pound trout on Power Bait near the docks
Lisa Cim of Hawthorne, 9.6 pound rainbow and 5.12 pound brook trout on Velveeta/marshmallow combo at the west shore
Alan Miyata of Hermosa Beach, 9.4 pound trout on Power Bait at the flats
Jim Updike of Redondo Beach, 9.2 pound trout on nightcrawlers at the west shore
John Cook of San Diego, 9.1 pound trout on nightcrawlers near the docks
Bill McKeug of Garden Grove, 5.5 pound brook trout on nightcrawlers at the west shore
Martin Weese of Los Angeles, 5.12 pound brook trout on Power Bait near the docks
Bill Mayfield of Costa Mesa, 4.6 pound brook trout on nightcrawlers at the west shore

Media contacts:
Daniela Gavaldon or Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop [714-649-9111]
Steve Carson at [email protected]