Catmando strikes again; Irvine Lake new record sturgeon
Caption:

Ronson Smothers of Los Angeles hefts the 49.6 pound sturgeon he caught
at Irvine Lake to establish a new record for the species there.

How does he do it? Somewhat overlooked amidst the hoopla of Irvine Lake's recent trout season opener was yet another remarkable catch by legendary big-catfish angler Ronson "Catmando" Smothers of Los Angeles.

On the final weekend of catfish season, Smothers added another notch to his belt and weighed in a whopping 49.6 pound sturgeon to establish a new lake record for the species. "It was late Saturday night at 12:45 AM, and I was ready to call it quits", related Smothers. "Something kept telling me to wait until 1:00 AM. About 10 minutes later I got a pretty regular run. I gave it a little more running room because I knew this would be the last fish of the night.

"It was almost a repeat of last week's battle [with a 59-pound blue catfish]. I figured it was about a 40-pound blue cat. Then it took off for the bottom and hung on tight. I almost never get stuck out there, so I just sat and waited until he was ready, and then started lifting inches at a time. I was using 20-pound Berkley Big Game monofilament and a piece of mackerel on an 8/0 octopus circle hook."

Smothers added, "This was my second confirmed sturgeon hookup, and the first one landed. It was also exactly 10 years to the day since I caught the Irvine Lake and [at the time] California state record 89.6 pound blue catfish.