IRVINE LAKE BROWN TROUT STILL ON THE CHEW

Anglers continued to make remarkable catches of brown trout at Irvine Lake this week, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "The majority of qualifying fish in our MLK weekend trout derby were brown trout", observed Getty. "Anglers who want to concentrate on the browns are still doing best with lures; both casting with metal like the Johnson Splinter, or trolling lures. Bait dunkers are doing well on browns mostly using nightcrawlers. Rainbows have been biting very well on small plastics like white/chartreuse or pink/white Berkley Mice Tails, No particular time of day has been best for trout, it's been a steady pick all day long."

Catfish anglers needed to work a little harder in the absence of streams actively flowing into the lake. Decent stringers of 3 to 8-pound channel catfish were still available by soaking mackerel or shrimp at 15-20 feet near Rocky Point. Interestingly, a handful of trout were caught accidentally by catfish anglers using mackerel.

Good catches of trout were reported by shorecasters from the west shoreline, and by trollers room mid-lake and Santiago Flats. Popular trolling lures included firetiger-color Rapala Countdown CD05's, and pink tiger shadRap SR04's, with brown trout showing a preference for Jointed Rapala J05's and J07's in brook trout and shad colors. Slow trolling form 0.9 to 1.9 mph was most effective, as was moving in broad "S" turns to keep the lure moving in and out of the boat's wake.

Bass anglers found good numbers of 2 to 4-pound largemouth by exploiting the abundance of crawdads with crankbaits on shallow structure, and jigs on deeper structure. Some lunker hunters throwing large swimbaits are being seen at work, but are keeping a tight lip about any success.

Families with children age 12 and under found fair action on 1-3 pound trout in the Kids Lagoon, using ultra-short leaders and spring green PowerBait with Trout Dust. Surface temperature on the main lake is 54-56 degrees, with underwater visibility rated off-color. The lake level is rising slowly, and the inlet pipe in Sierra Cove is running. The coming weekend will feature a Bite-On tournament event.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Danny Pinel of San Pedro, 5-8 rainbow trout on a Flickershad at mid-lake
Jerry Aguilar of Orange, 4-9 brown trout on nightcrawlers at the west shore
John Montgomery of Costa Mesa, 4-5 brown trout trolling at mid-lake
Dan Call of Fullerton, 4-4 brown trout on a Lucky Craft Pointer at mid-lake
9-year old Taylor Donahue of Orange, 3-4 brown trout on nightcrawlers at the west shore
Don Spencer of Silverado, 4-15 largemouth bass [released] on a crankbait at the flats
Mike Meredith of San Diego, 7-10 channel catfish on PowerBait at the west shore
Chris Hagopian of Redondo Beach, 6-8 channel catfish on mackerel at Rocky Point

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