Caption: This beautiful 15-8 rainbow trout was fooled by Eric Taylor of San Ramon with a trolled Rapala at Irvine Lake on New Years Eve.

Irvine Lake topped by 15-8 rainbow; Christmas trees planted

A bevy of quality-size trout to 15-8 hit the scales, and holiday weekend results ranged from very good to slow at Irvine Lake, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "The trout bite was very good on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, with lots of really nice 3 to 5-pounders being caught", observed Getty. "By Saturday and Sunday of the holiday weekend, heavy fishing pressure slowed things down quite a bit."

Getty added, "We are 'planting' over 120 leftover Christmas trees in several locations at Santiago Flats and on points along the west shore. The trees will be situated at a depth that even when the west shore road is finally exposed, they will still be under water."

Bait fishing was slightly better than trolling this week, with all the usual colors of Power Bait and Power Mouse combinations working well. Best leader lengths were 12 to 14 inches. Dropshot-rigged Power Trout Worms in orange or pink at 15 feet also accounted for some excellent numbers of fish.

Trollers did best with rainbow or firetiger-color CD05 Rapalas, or hot-pink Rapala X-Rap XR06's. Most of the trout were stocker-grade 1 and 2-pounders, with good numbers of quality 3 to 5-pounders, along with a sprinkling of trophy-size fish from 8 to 15-pounds. Good trout catches were reported from the west shore, Trout Island, boat dock cove, and Santiago Flats

No bass anglers ventured out during the holiday period, and no catfish catches were reported either. A few large carp were fooled by Power Bait presentations.

The Kids Lagoon was absolutely packed with families over the holiday, with predictably slowing results by the weekend. The Lagoon will be re-stocked this week. The main lake water level is holding steady, with surface temperatures in the mid-50's.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

Eric Taylor of San Ramon, 15-8 rainbow trout on a Rapala at the flats
Adam Hambarian of Orange, 12-12 rainbow trout on a Rapala near the ramp
Paul Horvat of LaVerne, 11-6 rainbow trout on a Rapala at the buoy line
Omar Banks of Moreno Valley, 10-6 rainbow trout on a Power Mouse at boat dock cove
Mark Christopher of Palm Springs, 9-8 rainbow trout on Power Bait at Trout Island
Jason Jones of Fullerton, 9-6 rainbow trout on a Rapala at mid-lake
Gary Johnstone of Covina, 8-0 rainbow trout on a nightcrawler at boat dock cove
Mario Cerna of Fullerton, 8-12 carp [released] on Power Bait at the flats