Anglers are advised that on May 3-4-5, drag boat races will be held at Irvine Lake. The Santiago Flats and Trout Island areas will be closed to fishing. A shuttle will be available to carry anglers to and from some areas of the west shore, and boat dock cove will also be open, with anglers of all ages welcome to fish in the Kids Lagoon. A $5 discount will apply.

Plenty of fish are still being stocked at Irvine Lake this week and every week, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "Next week we will receive a special 10,000 pound stocking of broodstock channel catfish, and the following week we will receive another 10,000 pound truckload of catfish. The big stocking of trout we received today [Thursday May 2] will be our last trout plant of the season. Our big catfish season opener will take place on June 7, which is also when night fishing hours will begin." Getty added, "We had very good action on trout, bass, and catfish this week. Most anglers are still after trout, and they are hitting best at 25 to 40 feet, but keep biting all day when you get the baits down there. Some really nice stringers of channel catfish are already coming in, and the bass fishing is still just excellent."

Catfishing is starting to take off, well in advance of the first big stocking truckloads hitting the water, or even the start of night fishing hours. Legendary catfish expert Ronson "Catmando" Smothers sampled the whiskerfish action this week with his 10-year old daughter Nyla [aka Kitten]. "We were out Wednesday and got 6 bites near the dam on mackerel chunks", related Smothers. "It was Nyla's idea to get out for cats, so I let her take the first one and of course that was the biggest of the day. The cats were 4 to 15.7 pounds. The bite was good until about 8am." Smothers tipped, "The cats are still spotty. For those looking for them, they must look for them. This may take 5 to 8 moves to accomplish for 30 to 45 minutes at each spot. If they aren't biting, they have to move and try again. The big May catfish stocking and warm weather may get the daytime bite into gear with the main areas being Boat Dock Cove, areas around Trout Island and all of the flats."

Good trout catches were checked in from the west shore and Boat Dock Cove areas. Fish were hitting on Power Bait and nightcrawlers for bait dunkers, with Rapalas and Luhr Jensen Needlefish doing the trick for trollers. Mid-day trolling was best with 3 to 6 colors of leadcore line or downriggers. A particularly hot technique was fishing a mini jig suspended 6 feet under a bobber in Boat Dock Cove.

Bass anglers found very good numbers of 2 to 4-pound largemouth hitting on jigs, plastics, and crankbaits in 1 to 20 feet of water, with a few larger bucketmouths hitting on swimbaits. Crappie were hitting trolled trout lures regularly, but few anglers were targeting them.

Families with children age 12 and under did well on 1 to 3-pound trout in the Kids Lagoon. Surface temperature on the main lake is 69 degrees, with the water level holding steady.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

Adam Cervantes of Placentia, 12-10 rainbow trout on a mini jig at Boat Dock Cove
Gayle Johnston of Torrance, 7-0 rainbow trout on a nightcrawler at Boat Dock Cove
Steve Appleby of Corona, 5-8 steelhead on a nightcrawler at the west shore
James Getty of Silverado, 7-5 largemouth bass [released] on a Slide Swimmer at the flats
10-year old Nyla "Kitten" Smothers of Los Angeles, 15-7 channel catfish on mackerel at the flats
Mark Christoph of Palm Springs, 12-15 channel catfish on mackerel at the flats
Ronson "Catmando" Smothers of Los Angeles, 11-8 channel catfish on mackerel at the flats
Elaine Dickerhoof of Fontana, 1-8 redear sunfish on a nightcrawler at the west shore
Mark Christoph of Palm Springs, 5-catfish stringer totaling 48-5, on mackerel at the flats