Excellent trout fishing, highlighted by some nice steelhead was on tap for Irvine Lake anglers this week, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "We had a huge 14-2 steelhead weighed in, which is the second-largest steelie ever caught at the lake. The overall trout bite was just insane this week with the pre-frontal conditions", observed Getty. "Both trolling and bait fishing were great; it didn't matter which you were doing. The water is very clear right now, so a 2-pound test leader is a must." Getty continued, "We had little 5-year old Ethan Pham of Garden Grove out for his first time ever fishing, and he caught a nice 10-pound limit of trout, trolling at the west shore. Another family of 5 caught a total of 23 trout using corn PowerBait; the father said there was pretty much at least one rod going off at all times!"

General Manager Dave Noyes added, "For the President's Weekend holiday we will be planting some additional big steelhead up to 12 pounds, with a lot of them in the 5 to 6-pound class. We are really looking forward to some spectacular action on these drag-ripping 'silver bullets' during our President's Weekend Tournament on the 18th and 19th."

Good catches were reported by trollers at mid-lake and along the west shore. Bait dunkers did best at Santiago Flats, Boat Dock Cove, and a few savvy anglers took boats out to Trout Island, and then fished from shore off the point.

Top bait choices included PowerBait and Mice Tails, along with wacky-dropshot rigged Gulp! Fat Trout Worms. Best length for bait leaders was 14 to 18 inches. Trollers dragged firetiger-color Rapala Countdown CD05's, red/chartreuse Rapala Ultralight Shad ULS04's, or orange/gold X-Rap Shad XRS06's. Bass chasers are finding that their quarry is starting to stage up, and very good numbers of 2 to 4-pound largemouth are hitting in 15 to 30 feet of water on jigs and dropshot baits. Some larger bass to 8 pounds are showing up for anglers tossing big swimbaits. Very few families with children ventured over to the Kids Lagoon, due to the excellent action on the main lake. Surface temperature on the main lake is 57 degrees, with the water level slowly dropping a few inches per week. Underwater visibility ranges from moderate to extremely clear.