Caption:Little 3-year old Aaron Easterday of Huntington Beach started his fishing career off right at Irvine Lake, and landed this monster 12-4 rainbow trout on Power Bait in the Kids Lagoon. Dad Mark and brother Ryan help with the heavy lifting.Aaron hooked the giant rainbow while soaking garlic flavor powerbait in the kids lagoon.

Irvine Lake parade of trophy rainbows topped by 15-4 lunker

A parade of bigger-grade fish highlighted this week's trout action at Irvine Lake, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "There have been a bunch of very large trout from 9 to 15 pounds hitting this week', observed Getty. "Besides the ones that have been checked in, a lot more large ones are being hooked, but get away because the angler has the drag set too tight, or the net man chokes up."

The majority of the stringers are filled with stocker-grade trout in the 1 and 2-pound class, along with a nice mixture of quality 3 to 5-pounders. Anglers who are prepared with correctly-set drags and a large net at the ready have the best chance of scoring one of the trophy-size fish.

Big trout have been caught or hooked at the west shore, Trout Island, and Santiago Flats. Best bet for bait dunkers has been the Power Bait/nightcrawler combination, but many of the bigger fish have been hitting on trolled firetiger-color Rapala Countdown CD05's, hot pink Rapala X-Rap XR-06's, or chartreuse Rapala Shad Rap SR05's.

No bass anglers ventured out during the trout fishing frenzy, and no catfish, carp, or panfish were reported either. The Kids Lagoon was re-stocked this week, and the largest trout in several years from the Lagoon was captured by little 3-year old Adam Easterday of Huntington Beach, when he subdued a 12-4 monster on garlic Power Bait while fishing with his dad and older brother.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

Charlie Lee of Orange, 15-4 rainbow trout on a nightcrawler at the west shore
Amury Guevara of Cerritos, 14-0 rainbow trout on an SC Shiner at the flats
Dan Nich of Chino, 13-10 rainbow trout on nightcrawlers at the flats
Nate Brotton of Norco, 12-14 rainbow trout on a Lip Ripper at the flats
Adam Hambarian of Orange, 12-12 rainbow trout on a Rapala near the ramp
3-year old Adam Easterday of Huntington Beach, 12-4 rainbow trout on Power Bait at the Lagoon
Dusty Faiello of Long Beach, 12-2 rainbow trout on a Rapala at the flats
Steve Bozigian of Norwalk, 11-10 rainbow trout on Power Bait at Woody's Cove
Raul Gomez of Silverado, 11-10 rainbow trout on a nightcrawler at Woody's Cove
Michael Ferber of Orange, 11-10 rainbow trout on Power Bait/nightcrawler at the west shore
Isaac Hunt of La Mirada, 10-2 rainbow trout on Power Bait at Woody's Cove
Joshua Estrada of Wilmington, 10-2 rainbow trout on nightcrawlers at the west shore
Chuck Rydell of Buena Park, 10-0 rainbow trout trolling Power Bait at the flats
Steve Burridge of Rancho Cucamonga, 10-0 rainbow trout on a Kastmaster at the south shore
Mike Woo of Ladera Ranch, 9-14 rainbow trout on a Rapala Shad Rap at mid-lake
Ron Ceaser of Tustin, 9-8 rainbow trout on a Power Mouse at Trout Island
Mitz "Magic Man" Onizuka of Irvine, 9-4 rainbow trout on Power Bait at the flats