Irvine Lake trout opener best in years; 11-2 rainbow tops catches
To say that last Friday's trout season opener at Irvine Lake was wide-open would be an understatement. The pre-opener stocking of 20,000 pounds of trout meant that easy limits were the rule in most areas of the lake, and virtually any legitimate trout fishing technique yielded plenty of fish. To top things off, the weather was "Chamber of Commerce" perfect.

Numerous veterans of Irvine Lake openers of previous years gave superlative ratings to this year's event. Comments like: "Best I've been to so far"; "A lot better than any other I've been to"; "We bought second-limit tickets before 8:00 AM", and many more that told the story of trout fishing that was simply incredible on both Friday and Saturday.

"The bite slowed somewhat on Sunday afternoon", observed Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "We restocked the lake with another 5,000 pounds of trout on Tuesday, and the bite perked right back up. Because of the Veteran's Day Holiday this week, we will also put in another 2,000 pounds on Thursday to make sure the fishing stays hot."

Popular bait/lure choices included the garlic Power Bait/nightcrawler combination, white/pink Power Mouse, chartreuse/orange Atomic teaser, firetiger or shad-color Rapala Countdown CD03 and CD05, and gold Thomas Buoyant.

Although the largest fish of opening week went a respectable 11-2, Calaveras Trout Farm owner Tim Goodman tipped, "We also planted 60 trout that were over 20 pounds apiece; a couple of them would certainly break the lake record. They may take a week or so to settle down before they want to bite, and they don't school up like the small fish do."

Families with children age 12 and under also did exceptionally well in the Kids lagoon. The road to Trout Island and the flats road are both open, but the west shore road is under water. Anglers may reach productive shore fishing spots on the west shore by parking at the upper campground, and taking a short 5 minute hike.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

- Paul McHon of La Habra, 11-2 rainbow trout on a Rapala at mid-lake
- Daniela Michael of Pico Rivera, 9-6 rainbow trout on an Atomic Tube at the west shore
- Mike Traut of Costa Mesa, 7-6 rainbow trout on a Luhr Jensen Needlefish at mid-lake
- John Struckman of Fullerton, 7-2 rainbow trout on a Thomas Buoyant at mid-lake
- Danny Rodriguez of Wilmington, 5-1 brown trout on an SC Shiner at the west shore
- David Sandoval of Irvine, 4-5 brown trout on Power Bait at the flats