Irvine Lake catches highlighted by 10-pound brown trout, with crappie and bluegill turning on.

Excellent action on crappie, bass and trout were highlighted by the capture of one of the largest brown trout ever seen at Irvine Lake, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "the crappie fishing is wide-open", observed Getty. "The bass fishing is also full speed, and the continuing good trout fishing was topped by an absolutely beautiful 10-pound brown trout."

Good trout catches were made at Trout Island, Sierra Cove, Woody's Cove and the flats, with numerous reports of big fish snapping lines. Plenty of the bonus fish left over from last week's Masters Tournament are still available. Besides the big brown trout, a few lucky anglers located a large school of brook trout, and caught easy limits of the colorful exotics. Several hefty limit stringers of rainbows that totaled 25 pounds or more were also checked in.

Bait dunkers did best with18 to 20-inch leaders, and Power Mouse or Power Bug combinations utilizing white, chartreuse and yellow combinations. Trollers did well on Rapalas, and leadcore line draggers were scoring at 3 to 4 colors.

Sight fishing for bass is the hot ticket right now; with jigs, Senkos and tubes working or largemouth in the 2 to 8-pound class at Santiago Flats and Sierra Cove. Catfish anglers are finding much improved action on "eating size"1 to 5 pound whiskerfish nightcrawlers, mackerel and DuMong's.

Crappie are still biting very well for anglers using Atomic Teasers and dropshot-rigged 2-inch Gulp! Minnows. Anglers are reminded that many of the female crappie are gravid, and these spawning fish should be released. Some very nice bluegill to 1.5 pounds are hitting on mealworms and waxworms.

May 10 will see Irvine Lake conduct an evening bass tournament from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM. The event is limited to 75 two-person teams, with an entry fee of $150 per team. Entry forms are available at the lake or Anglers Marine.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

James Anna of Trabuco, 11-10 carp on a Power Bug at boat dock cove
Marcello Canon of Chatsworth, 10-4 trout on nightcrawlers at boat dock cove
Steve England of Mission Viejo, 10-0 brown trout on a Thomas Buoyant at Woody's Cove
Dee Bartlett of Anaheim, 5-trout limit totaling 29-0, topped by a 9-6 on Power Bait at Sierra Cove
Mark Villareal of Ontario, 5-trout limit totaling 28-0 on nightcrawlers at Woody's Cove
Mits Onizuka of Irvine, 9-0, 8-10 and 7-0 trout on a Power Bug at the flats
Filber Solis of Santa Ana, 8-10 trout on a lure at Woody's Cove
Tim Healy of Newport Beach, 5-trout limit totaling 30-0, topped by a 7-6 on nightcrawlers at Trout Island
Al Rotta of Lomita, 10-fish limit [all brook trout!] totaling 29-8 on Power Bait at the flats
Dennis Motschenbacher of Orange, 5-fish limit [all brook trout!] totaling 14-12 on Power Eggs at the flats

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