A humongous rainbow trout caught at Irvine Lake this week appears to be the lake's third-largest of the species in history, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "We had a huge 21-4 rainbow trout checked in this week; the thing was positively huge!" gushed Getty. "The big fish hit on a white Berkley Atomic Tube for Ronn Anderson of Mission Viejo, who was fishing in Woody's Cove." Getty continued, "Overall, the trout fishing has been very, very good, with most of the fish going between 2 and 4 pounds. Trolling was a little better than bait fishing. We had a very successful Daiwa March Madness Tournament, with the winner catching a beautiful 11-14 steelhead and pocketing $1344."

Local guide Hubert Zimara of KFGS Service added, "Our group had 17 trout in 4 hours of trolling near the marina, west shoreline, and dam. Toplining was best, but 2 or 3 colors of leadcore also produced. We even had a 'double-hookup' that resulted in two 4.5 pounders."

Bait dunkers are scoring fish on PowerBait, Gulp! Sinking Pinched Crawlers, and plain nightcrawlers. Trollers are using smaller offerings like firetiger-color Rapala Countdown CD03's, pink Rapala X-Rap XR04's, and red/chartreuse Rapala Ultralight Shad ULS04's.

Bass anglers are finding the fish in all 3 spawn phases, with most of the largemouth ranging in the 2 to 5-pound class, although some much larger females have been spotted. A surprising number of crappie are being caught by trout trollers, and some plump bluegill are hitting incidentally for trouters soaking nightcrawlers. The few catfish anglers who ventured out caught decent numbers of nice 4 to 6-pound channel cats using shrimp near Sierra Cove, along with a handful of hybrid striped bass to 10 pounds. There was even a monster 35-pound blue catfish that was fooled by a "Cali-Bama Rig" being thrown in pursuit of largemouth bass.

Families with children age 12 and under are finding good action on trout, carp, and bluegill in the Kids Lagoon on nightcrawlers. Surface temperature on the main lake is 61 degrees, with underwater visibility rated very clear.

This Saturday [March 31] will feature the Berkley Cup tournament event. A special highlight this year will have Berkley Representative Chris Marso cruising around the lake in his custom-wrapped bass boat, and flying a Berkley banner. Marso will have at least 200 prizes to give away, including Nanofil and Trilene line, PowerBait, Gulp! and more. You don't even have to catch a fish; just be using a Berkley bait product, or a rod/reel combination from Shakespeare, Abu-Garcia, Fenwick, Penn, or Berkley, and you're a winner.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

Ronn Anderson of Mission Viejo, 21-4 rainbow trout on a Berkley Atomic Tube at Woody's Cove
Carl Rentschaler of Rancho Palos Verdes, 15-6 rainbow trout on a Rapala at the west shore
Joseph Fernandez of Placentia, 11-4 rainbow trout on a mini jig at the west shore
Shaun Martinez of Ontario, 10-4 rainbow trout on a Shaun Smokin Jig at the west shore
Mike Meredith of Irvine, 11-14 steelhead on a Lucky Craft at mid-lake
Phil Hildebrant of Anaheim, 9-0 steelhead on a Lip Ripper worm at Woody's Cove
Steve Hathaway of Los Angeles, 10-0 wiper on shrimp at Sierra Cove
Nick Sepulveda of Silverado, 35-8 blue catfish [released] on a Cali-Bama rig at Boat Dock Cove
Steve Hathaway of Los Angeles, 6-1 channel catfish on shrimp at Sierra Cove
Hayden Dang of Yorba Linda, 3-2 carp on a nightcrawler at the Kids Lagoon