Another huge batch of thousands of pounds of trout hit the water at Irvine Lake today [Thursday], reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "We had some really nice fish go in among the thousands of pounds of additional trout this afternoon", observed Getty. "I saw several nice rainbows over 10 pounds in there, along with tonnage of 2 to 5-pounders, and also some nice 5 to 7-pound browns, and a couple of brook trout." The lake's resident fish population really got going this week, on top of the already great trout action, related Getty. "We had a wide-open bite on both trout and bass this week. The people who concentrated on catfish like Ronson Smothers and Chris Hagopian made some really great catches. Even going after wipers worked out well for a couple of anglers. The overall bite is really good, and has been going on all day long We will continue to stock trout every week at least until mid-May, and some of the heavy trout limits that came in this week were amazing!"

Getty added, "We want to remind everybody that lake entry on Saturday, April 20 requires pre-registration in the Western Outdoors News Sierra Opener event. Registration information is available by contacting Bill Egan via email at [email protected] or by calling 949-366-0030, extension 40. Gates will open to the public on April 20 at 10:00 AM."

Local guide Hubert Zimara of KFGS Guide Service tipped, "We did exceptionally well trolling with 3 to 6 colors of leadcore line, down at about 30 feet. All of the usual Rapalas were working on good-grade trout in the 2 to 5-pound class. We trolled all morning, and then settled down for bait fishing after lunch."

Good trout catches were reported from the west shore, Santiago Flats, and mid-lake, with 15 to 30 feet being the key depths. Best baits were garlic chartreuse PowerBait and nightcrawlers, fished on longer 18-inch leaders due to the clear water conditions.

Trollers started moving toward more natural-color choices, with brown trout color Rapala ScatterRap SCRCD07's, or brook-trout color Jointed Rapala J05's, along with frog-color Luhr Jensen Needlefish for anglers choosing to drop down with leadcore line. Bass anglers did very well on 2 to 5-pound largmouth, with some hefty bucketmouths over 10 pounds available for dedicated swimbait tossers or those skilled at sight-fishing. Plenty of bass are also being caught on jigs, worms, and even crankbaits. Not much effort has been spent on crappie fishing, but a few anglers targeting hybrid striped bass had good catches of the 8 to 12-pound wipers on shrimp.

Families with children age 12 and under did very well in the Kids lagoon this week, according to Irvine Lake Pro-Team leader Marlon Meade. "The 1 to 3 pound trout were biting like crazy in the Lagoon on white Berkley Mice Tails", related Meade. "The trick is to drag the Mice Tails slowly along on a split-shot rig. Setting a natural-color Gulp! 2-inch Pinched Crawler under a bobber is also working well."

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

Kerry Mann of Gardena, 9-9 rainbow trout on PowerBait at the west shore
Michael Simmons of Palm Springs, 4-8 steelhead on a Rapala at mid-lake
Mike Nordstrom of Orange, 6-0 Yosemite Red on a Needlefish at mid-lake
Kent Smith of Long Beach, 11-5 largemouth bass [released] on a swimbait at the flats
Ronson Smothers of Los Angeles, 16-4 and 14-5 channel catfish on mackerel at mid-lake
Steve Hathaway, 12-1 hybrid striper [released] on shrimp at Sierra Cove
Stan Kong and Mitz Onizuka of Irvine, 5-trout limit totaling 34-1 on PowerBait at the west shore
The Foster Family of Canada, 12 mixed species trout totaling 38-5, on nightcrawlers at the west shore
Mike Traut and John Traut of Costa Mesa, 10-trout limit totaling 45-8 on Excel spoons at mid-lake