Irvine Lake catfish night bite steady
Night time is the right time to connect with Irvine Lake's catfish population, reported general manager Dave Noyes, "Our Thursday night and Friday night sessions were very good for catfish and crappie", said Noyes. "All of the activity slowed things down a bit on Saturday night."

Limits of 2 to 5-pound class catfish were fairly common for anglers dunking the usual baits like mackerel, shrimp, Gulp! and DuMong's. Good catches of whiskerfish were reported from boat dock cove, Santiago Flats and along the west shore.

Crappie anglers also did well after dark, with easy limits of slabs from hand size to over a pound coming in for anglers who set out a floating lantern. Best tempters for crappie were white or glow-color Berkley Atomic tubes tipped with a meal worm.

Bass anglers did best during the early evening hours on Thursday, when more than 20 bass per boat could be released for just a few hours effort. The mostly 2 to 4-pound largemouth were hitting on jigs, and dropshot or Carolina-rigged plastics.

A handful of anglers chasing trout were able to make good catches on deep-soaked baits or lures trolled on 5 to 6 colors of leadcore line. Plenty of bluegill and redear can be caught in the shallows in mealworms or waxworms.

The Kids Lagoon kicked out fair numbers of catfish for families with children age 12 and under. Surface temperature on the main lake is 73 degrees, with the main lake level dropping slowly.

With summer now upon us, the lake is open on Thursday nights until 11:00 PM, open on Friday nights until 2:00 AM, and closed on Tuesdays. There is a $5 discount when entering after 5:00 PM on Thursdays only.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

- Denise Swann of Lakewood, 5-catfish limit totaling 21.1 pounds, on mackerel at the flats