Very good trout fishing at Irvine Lake this week was accentuated by many of the lake's other fish species waking up for the beautiful spring weather, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "We expected the trout fishing to be good with the nice weather", observed Getty. "What we did not expect was for the other species like blue catfish and largemouth bass to be biting so well, and to have such whoppers turned in." Getty added, "We are looking forward to meeting lots of our old and new friends at the Irvine Lake booth at the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach, and will be offering a special book of 10 lake admission tickets for $200, which is a $40 savings. The special will ONLY be available in our booth at the Fred Hall Show."

Most trout on the stringers were in the 2 to 3-pound class, with some better-grade rainbows to 6 pounds showing . A nice mix of brown trout and Yosemite Reds adds some variety to the catches. Bait dunkers scored using chartreuse Gulp! Pinched Crawlers, Power Bait, and nightcrawlers. Trollers did best with firetiger-color Rapala Countdown CD05's and Ultralight Shad ULS04's, or pink tiger Shad Rap SR04's.

Good trout catches were checked in from the flats, Boat Dock Cove, Trout Island, the west shore, and mid-lake. Some very large blue catfish from 12 to nearly 40 pounds are getting active near the dam, and many anglers recall last spring's bite on big blues, with the current action looking very similar. Growing numbers of plump bluegill over a pound are inhaling nightcrawlers intended for trout along the west shore.

Bass anglers found their quarry on the move this week, with fish transitioning from deep water to pre-spawn patterns. Some good catches of 2 to 4-pound largemouth can still be caught on hard structure at 20 to 30 foot depths using dropshot-rigged baits near the Red Clay Cliffs and Rocky Point. An increasing number of bucketmouths to as much as 10 pounds are now being hooked at the west shore and Santiago Flats using swimbaits and Calibama rigs.

Families with children age 12 and under found good numbers of 1 to 3-pound trout in the Kids Lagoon on Berkley Mice Tails. Surface temperature on the main lake is 58 degrees with water clarity rated good.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Steve Hathaway of Orange, 39-6 blue catfish [released] on shrimp near the dam
Hanbartsun Yaralayan of Armenia, 15-5 blue catfish [released] on mackerel at the west shore
Dmitri Yboykov of Los Angeles, 6-2 rainbow trout on nightcrawlers at the flats
9-year old Noah Banks of Moreno Valley, 5-0 rainbow trout on Power Bait at the west shore
Steve Christopher of Huntington Beach, 3-9 brown trout on a Rapala at the flats
Walter Yboykov of Yorba Linda, 4-8 Yosemite Red on a Rapala at the flats
Chris mason of Orange, 10-2 largemouth bass [released] on a Calibama rig at the west shore
Colin Cassoa of Huntington Beach, 1-8 bluegill on nightcrawlers at the west shore