IRVINE LAKE OFFERS VIEW OF SNOWCAPPED PEAKS, TROUTING EXCELLENT

Anglers who headed to Irvine Lake this week were treated to a true mountain-like experience, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "Snow fell at just 200 feet above the lake this week, and it is still plainly visible up on 3900-foot Modjeska Peak", "The cold weather dropped the lake temperature down to 51 degrees, which made the trout and also the trout anglers very happy."

Getty added, "The trout bite has really been going on all day long, with the AM slightly better than the PM. We are still seeing a very high percentage of brown trout on the stringers, with the browns biting best on trolled lures, casting metal lures like Johnson Splinters, or on nightcrawlers. The rainbows are also biting on all of those, plus Power Bait and Trout worms, with the grade of both species mostly being 2 to 5 pounds. We are really looking forward to our big Martin Luther King weekend tournament event."

Catfishing backed off somewhat from last week's frantic pace, due to the diminished runoff. Decent numbers of 3-8 pound whiskerfish were still available to anglers who boated out to some of the more isolated points, and then getting out to fish flylined mackerel chunks from shore.

Trout trollers are scoring on firetiger-color Rapala Countdown CD05's, or red/chartreuse Rapala Ultralight Shad ULS04's, and mostly fished at mid-lake. Bait dunkers are going mostly with white PowerBait fished on 2-pound test leaders ranging from 12-14 inches long, with the west shoreline and Trout Island mentioned often as productive spots.

Most bass anglers found fair numbers of 2 to 4-pound largemouth using deep water techniques like dropshot-rigged plastics and jigs at 20-25 feet near Rocky Point and the Red Clay Cliffs. Some larger bucketmouths were also available shallower on swimbaits and crankbaits.

Families with children age 12 and under found fair action on 1-3 pound trout in the Kids lagoon using PowerBait. Surface temperature on the main lake dropped to 51 degrees on average, with underwater visibility rated slightly stained. The lake level is still rising about 6 inches per week, but much more than that during stormy periods. The west shore launch ramp is fully operational, and the Trout Island ramp is about two weeks from being ready for operation.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
7-year old Royal Hunter, Jr. of Corona, 5-15 rainbow trout on PowerBait at the west shore
Carlos Momchada of Santa Ana, 5-8 rainbow trout on a spoon at the west shore
Ron Akyama of Los Angeles, 7-10 brown trout on nightcrawlers at the flats
Brandon Vogel of Orange, 4-15 brown trout on a Thomas Buoyant at the west shore
Chris Hagopian of Redondo Beach, 7-5 channel catfish on mackerel at Rocky Point
Don Spencer of Silverado, 5-3 largemouth bass [released] on a crankbait at Rocky Point


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