Lots of catfish were on the menu for anglers at Irvine Lake this week, reported general manager Dave Noyes. "Our Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night-time sessions have been the best time for catfish, and also for cooling off during the hot weather", observed Noyes. "Daytime anglers are still catching some catfish, along with lots of largemouth bass and also those jumbo bluegill. Santiago Flats has consistently been the best spot for catfish, but we are also seeing fish checked in from the west shore and Boat Dock Cove."

Local guide Hubert Zimara of KFGS Service added, "Early morning bite or late evening bite is best; during sunlight hours hit the areas of shade and cover. Near the boat docks has been a very good spot."

Top reported catfish baits included mackerel, shrimp, pike mackerel, skipjack, and Gulp! Catfish Chunks rigged with no sinker at all in 10 to 20 feet of water. Most whiskerfish on the cleaning tables were in the 2 to 6-pound class, with a sprinkling of larger specimens to keep things interesting.

Bass anglers found very good numbers of 2 to 5-pound largemouth during both daytime and night-time efforts. Daytime anglers used various deep-water techniques, including jigs and dropshot-rigged plastics at 25 to 35 feet, on hard-structure spots like the Red Clay Cliffs and Rocky Point. Evening and night-time anglers found the fish moving up shallow, with topwaters, spinnerbaits, and 10-inch or larger Texas-rigged Power Worms fished along the west shoreline being very productive.

Some nice slab crappie were checked in by anglers offering white mini-jigs with a mealworm trailer, and a few 2-pound average rainbow trout are also being seen and caught under the floating crappie lights. Plenty of large-grade bluegill were readily available near submerged brush on Gulp! Crickets. A handful of hybrid striped bass were caught incidentally on shrimp by anglers targeting catfish. Anglers are reminded that all bass species are strictly catch-and-release at Irvine Lake.

Families with children age 12 and under found good numbers of 1 to 3-pound stocker-grade catfish using mackerel, shrimp, or the marshmallow/mealworm combo. The lake is open Thursday nights until 11 PM, until Midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, until 4 PM on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays, and closed on Tuesdays. The big Midsummer Night's Dream Catfish Tournament coming up on August 11 will see the lake stay open until 2:00 AM.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Jordan Horita, Buena Park, 6.10 lb catfish, mackerel, Lagoon.
Miles Howe, Laguna, 6.3 lb largemouth bass, released, 12" worm, West Shore.
Cameron Corrett, Riverside, 6 lb bass, released, spinner, Lagoon.
Joe Paul Rivera, Yorba Linda, 1.6 lb trout, night crawler, Trout Island.