The inlet pipe at Irvine Lake's Sierra Cove is running, which results in excellent fishing all around the vicinity, reported Daniela Gavaldon at the Pro Shop. "The pipe in Sierra Cove started running a couple of days ago", observe Daniela Gavaldon at the Pro Shop. "As you would expect, the trout started to bite well right away in that vicinity. Whenever the pipe is running, the influx of oxygen, food, and current always draw the fish right in and make them very co-operative."

Gavaldon added, "The Christmas Trout Derby will take place this Saturday Dec. 15, and Sunday Dec. 16. Lots of prizes, a nice raffle, and a big cash payout with just a $10 buy-in. The event is also a Master's Qualifier." Very good numbers of both rainbow and brown trout this week were spiced up by a new lake record for one of the lake's other species, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "Anglers in the USA sometimes forget that the WORLD'S most popular game fish is none other than the common carp. We had a new lake-record carp weighed in this weekend, a 32-6 monster that hit a nightcrawler near the Red Clay Cliffs. Angler Larry Woodward of Chino fought the fish for 45 minutes on just 4-pound line. The IGFA World Record for carp on 4-pound line is 38 pounds, so it's a pretty impressive accomplishment."

Getty continued, "The trout fishing has been very good overall for beautiful 2 and 3 pound class rainbows, and we have been getting an unusually high number of really nice brown trout checked in too."

Besides Sierra Cove, good catches of trout were also checked in from Boat Dock Cove, the west shoreline, Trout Island, and Santiago Flats. Bait dunkers did best with 16-18 inch leaders, and Berkley Mice Tails in white/pink, glow, and orange/silver chartreuse colors. Trollers found success with Rapala Ultralight Shad ULS04's in firetiger and clown colors.

Bass anglers continue to turn out in decent numbers, but are being a little secretive about results. Moderate numbers of 2 to 4-pound largemouth were confirmed for anglers using deep water techniques like jigs and dropshot-rigged plastics at 30 feet on hard structure like the Red Clay Cliffs and Rocky Point. Other reports of larger bucketmouths on swimbaits were unconfirmed. 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 carp and 1 to 3-pound trout in the Kids Lagoon on PowerBait, nightcrawlers, and marshmallow-mealworm combos. Surface temperature on the main lake is 58-60 degrees. Underwater clarity is fairly good near the west shore with 2-3 feet of visibility, but the water is somewhat stained at Boat Dock Cove.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

Danny Pinel of San Pedro, 5-15 rainbow trout on nightcrawlers at the west shore
Diego Gamboa of Hacienda Heights, 4-15 pound rainbow trout on Bite-On at Sierra Cove
Frosty Johnson of Los Angeles, 7-0 brown trout on a Krocodile at Boat Dock Cove
Jim Thorpe of Laguna Woods, 5-8 brown trout on a Kastmaster at the west shore
Barry Mains of Villa Park, 4-1 largemouth bass [released] on a jig at Rocky Point
Larry Woodward of Chino, 32-6 carp [new lake record] on nightcrawlers at the Red Clay Cliffs
Mike Allhands of Downey, 12-10 carp on nightcrawlers at the west shore