Irvine Lake catfish and crappie still biting, bass perking up

Heavy Saturday-night crowds slowed down what was otherwise good catfish action at Irvine Lake, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "Thursday and Friday nights were very good for catfish, but the big crowd on Saturday night slowed things down", remarked Getty. "The crappie still bit pretty well on Saturday night if you put out a light and were patient."

Best catfish baits were DuMong's, mackerel, shrimp and Gulp!. Productive spots for catfish included Santiago Flats and near the docks, with crappie also found along the fence line and at the hump.

Legendary big catfish hunter Ronson "Catmando" Smothers hit the lake and observed, "Fished my honeyhole in 30 feet of water off the west shore, and had wide-open action on 2 to 9-pound channel cats at mid-day. They were hitting on mackerel soaked in CMD juice, and some bigger fish broke off in structure. The best night bite was from 9:00 Pm to midnight off rocky Point."

Crappie anglers are finding good to excellent number of slabsides both during the daylight and nighttime hours. During the day, drifting is the top technique, with noted crappie expert Marlon Meade showing that the best lures were white Berkley Atomic Teasers and jighead-rigged 2-inch Berkley Gulp! Minnows. Night-time crappie chasers should anchor up and put out a floating lantern, then use the same lures in glow-in-the-dark colors.

Some very large carp are on tap for anglers skilled in specialty European carp techniques. Those with this knowledge have been able to rack up some impressive scores of what are actually the world's most popular game fish to over 20 pounds.

Bass specialists again found excellent action using a variety of techniques, with some anglers releasing as many as 30 largemouth for a morning's effort. Most of the bass were in the 2 to 4-pound category, but a few larger fish to 7 pounds were caught. Best method was fishing black/blue Berkley Beast creature baits on a ??-ounce shaky head at 15 to 20 feet off points, with topwaters, crankbaits and plastic worms also fooling the bass.

Plenty of bluegill and redear are still available for anglers offering mealworms and waxworms near the docks, the west shore and Rocky Point. The Kids Lagoon is still kicking out some catfish and bluegill, but anglers are reminded that the Lagoon will close for maintenance after Labor Day.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

Young Oh of Anaheim, 20.1 pound carp on dough bait at the west shore Rick Redmon of Garden Grove, 10.9 pound catfish on mackerel near the docks Ronson "Catmando" Smothers of Los Angeles, 9.0 and 8.0 pound catfish on mackerel at mid-lake

Mark Higashi of Los Alamitos, 7.0 pound largemouth bass [released] on topwater at Rocky Point Tom Black, James Black and Marlon Meade of Anaheim, 3 limits of crappie totaling 15.1 pounds on Berkley Atomic Tubes at the flats

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