This weekend's Friday-night catfish opener at Irvine Lake just got more interesting, as an additional batch of catfish will be stocked this week, making this week's total catfish stocking a whopping 12,500 pounds, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "We stocked 2,500 pounds of catfish today [Wednesday] in both the main lake and the Kids Lagoon, and we have another 10,000 pounds of catfish coming in for the main lake on Thursday, just in time for the opener", observed Getty.

"The catfish are already biting; this week, the fishing team from the 'Los Anglers' line of clothing had a spectacular multi-limit catfish stringer that totaled over 200 pounds, and the opener should see an excellent overall catfish bite. There's a reason that Irvine Lake is known as one of the top catfish lakes in the United States!"

Getty continued, "Our revised summer hours will take effect this Friday June 7. Starting on that night, we will be open until Midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, until 11 PM on Thursdays, until 4 PM Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays, and CLOSED on Tuesdays. On tournament days, the lake will stay open until 2 AM.

"New fishing policies will allow unlimited catch and release fishing on catfish, although the daily 'keep' limit remains 5 catfish. Anglers catching a blue catfish over 15 pounds will get a free lake admission if they check the fish with the shop and safely release it. Lucky anglers getting a blue catfish over 20 pounds will get 2 free admissions.

"Each month we will have a specially-tagged catfish we call 'The General', which will be worth $100 cash and a King of the Cats drawing ticket. Anyone who breaks the lake record of 89.6 pounds for blue catfish will receive $1,000 cash.

"We will have lots of tournaments running during the summer, including the King of the Cats series with a total prize package of $5,000, and the 'Bite-On Bonanza Bounty' that pays off for the heaviest catfish of the month.

"We have also added another 'party pontoon boat', so now we have 2 of those, plus an additional 13 regular pontoon boats, for a total of 15."

Variety of baits were productive for catfish anglers this week, including fresh mackerel, Bite-On, and an interesting baitfish species called "pike mackerel", which tuna anglers know by their correct name "saury". The pike mackerel can be purchased fresh at some larger fish markets.

During the daytime hours last week, the catfish have been found in tight and frenzied spawning aggregations, which can sometimes be located by the swirling muddy area they create. Catfishing results this week were excellent if an aggregation could be found.

Bass anglers are doing very well on 2 to 6-pound largemouth on dropshot rigged plastics at Rocky Point and the Red Clay Cliffs. The advent of evening hours should open up a plethora of twilight and dark techniques, including 10-inch plastic worms, buzzbaits, and topwaters. A few nice hybrid striped bass were inhaling mackerel baits intended for catfish.

A handful of crappie were caught, but little effort was expended towards that species. Trout anglers skilled at deepwater trolling and baitfishing techniques found some nice 2 to 8-pound rainbows at 30 to 45 feet.

Families with children age 12 and under found good numbers of 1 to 3-pound catfish in the Kids Lagoon on marshmallow/mealworm combos, and lots of additional catfish were stocked in the Kids Lagoon this week. Surface temperature on the main lake is 74 degrees, with the lake level holding steady. Underwater visibility is extremely clear in most areas of the lake.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Diego Gamboa of Orange, 8-9 channel catfish on fresh mackerel at the flats
Pastor James Howard of Corona, 12-0 blue catfish [released] on Bite-On at the flats
Diego Gamboa of Orange, 9-0 blue catfish [released] on fresh mackerel at the flats
Trevor Cigach of Villa Park, 8-1 rainbow trout on a Triple Trout at Rocky Point
Paul Hampton of Fullerton, 6-11 largemouth bass [released] on dropshot at the west shore
David Aldridge of Silverado, 8-1 hybrid striper [released] on mackerel at the flats
Team "Los Anglers", 25-catfish limit totaling 200 pounds on fresh mackerel at the flats
Seahoon Hong of Garden Grove, 10-catfish limit totaling 59-6 on pike mackerel at the flats