The largest blue catfish of the year to date highlighted a soggy weekend at Irvine Lake when legendary big-catfish expert Ronson "Catmando" Smothers of Los Angeles bested a 59.3 pound leviathan.

"Ronson hooked up at about 8:45 PM on Friday night, right in-between storms" related Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "Nothing dramatic happened, when Ronson hooks up to a big one, he knows exactly what to do. It fought for about 15 minutes on 20-pound test Berkley Big Game line after hitting on a chunk of mackerel soaked in Catmando attractant. We weighed it at the dock, and then released it to swim away just fine. Several other people reported hooking and losing very large cats."

Smothers himself revealed, "Around 8:00 PM I tossed out a bait the size of a 6-inch sub sandwich on 20-pound Berkley Big Game line and an 8/0 Gamakatsu Octopus circle hook. At 8:45 PM I got a run, and after 15 seconds I realized my line was almost behind me. I knew a small fish couldn't carry the huge bait that far that fast, so I waited another 15 seconds to set the hook.

"At first it seemed like a 15-20 pounder, but then everything went into reverse. I finally eased her up and she ran into the net with ease."

Smothers tipped, "I'd say the lake will give up at least 2 more titans before the season is done."

In other action, channel catfish in the 2 to 8-pound class continued to bite at an excellent pace, with mackerel, Gulp! Catfish Dough, Bowker's and Catmando working almost equally well. Some anglers are also finding a few 10 to 20-pound blue cats, with productive spots for the whiskerfish being Santiago Flats, the west shore and near the dam.

Bass fishing remains decent, with anglers releasing as many as 10 largemouth in the 2 to 3-pound range daily. Very early and late sees the bass hitting topwaters, with the remainder of the day seeing the fish hit on jigs and worms at the red clay cliffs, Rocky Point and rockpiles in Santiago Flats.

Bluegill and redear fishing stayed at an "all you want" proposition, with mealworms and waxworms the top baits. Crappie are still somewhat aloof, preferring to stuff themselves on the abundant shad blooms.

Cooling water temperatures mean the annual Trout Season Opener will take place on October 19, with the final late-night catfish session slated for Saturday October 13.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Ronson "Catmando" Smothers of Los Angeles, 59.3 pound catfish on mackerel/Catmando at mid-lake
Donovan Swann of Huntington Beach, 17.3 and 13.0 pound catfish on mackerel at the flats