Plenty of catfish were on tap at Irvine Lake this week, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "We has limit-style catfish action on Friday and Saturday night, with the warm water keeping all the fish in 15 feet of water or less right here at Boat Dock Cove, and also over at the flats. Most of the catfish at the cleaning tables are prime 'eating size' 2 to 6-pounders, with a few bigger ones around. We also had the biggest largemouth bass of the year, an 11-14 monster, inhale a 13-inch Upton custom plastic worm."

Getty added, "All the usual baits were producing catfish, along with a couple of new choices; Bite On Shrimp, and 'pike mackerel' which you can sometimes buy in Asian fish markets."

Bass fishing was a shallow and deep proposition, with morning anglers dropping deep with jigs, Carolina rigs, and dropshot rigs over humps and other structure. Evening anglers stayed shallow, throwing topwaters and 10-inch or larger plastic worms, for mostly 2 to 4-pound largemouth. Irvine's bass population definitely holds some lunkers, as evidenced by the 11-14 whopper released on Saturday night.

Crappie chasers found some larger-grade slabs in the 1 pound and up class on white mini jigs fished at 15 to 20 feet under floating lanterns, with a few holdover rainbow trout also joining the party. Jumbo bluegill were also still hitting on Gulp! Crickets, and big carp were rolling around, but mostly snapping lines when hooked.

Families with children age 12 and under found good action on 1 to 3-pound catfish on mackerel or the M&M combo. Surface temperature on the main lake is 77-80 degrees. Underwater visibility at mid-lake is rated gin-clear, while Santiago Flats can get a bit murky after windy periods.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Terry "Pontoon" Lairson of Huntington Beach, 10-12 channel catfish on mackerel at the dam
Ben Griffith of Palmdale, 9-8 channel catfish on mackerel at the flats
Craig Wolfe of Orange, 7-2 channel catfish on mackerel at Boat Dock Cove
Terry Lairson of Huntington Beach, 2-6 rainbow trout on a meal worm at the west shore
Joe Nuinhuis of Newport Beach, 11-14 largemouth bass [released] on a 13-inch Upton's Worm
5-year old Justin Mostero of San Juan Capistrano, 4-5 largemouth bass [released] on a Power Worm at Trout Island
Terry Lairson of Huntington Beach, 1-8 crappie on a meal worm at the west shore