IRVINE LAKE TROUTING TOPPED BY 8-5 BROWN; NEBRASKA TAILWAKERS HIT THE WATER THIS WEEK

This week will be a big one of Irvine Lake anglers, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "The brown trout are biting full speed", observed Getty. "Browns are chasing schools of bait around, and anglers should try to replicate one of the three main bait species; silversides, threadfin shad, or log perch in order to fool the predatory browns. Casting with shiny lures, or trolling baitfish-imitating plugs have both been successful methods."

Getty continued, "This week we will have our first stocking of the famous Nebraska Tailwalker rainbow trout. Most of them will be in the 2 to 5-pound class, with some trophy grade fish to as much as 15 pounds mixed in. These trout have beautiful markings and full tails, which allows them to fight like crazy as their name indicates. We will continue to get stockings of the Tailwalkers interspersed with our regular stockings until mid-April."

Good stingers of trout were checked in from the west shore and Trout Island for shorecasters, and mid-lake for trollers. Best baits were the PowerBait/nightcrawler combo which got both rainbows and some browns, but most anglers concentrated on lures to target brown trout.

Trollers went for natural baitfish and insect-replicating colors which are usually best for brown trout. Silver/black Rapala Countdown CD05's, shad-patter ShadRap SR04's and brook trout-color Jointed Rapala J05's have all been tallying fish, and the biggest brown of the week was fooled by a Floating Rapala F05 in baby bass color.

Bass fishing is very good on 2 to 4-pound largemouth using dropshot-rigged plastics and jigs at 20 feet on hard structure. Some larger bucketmouths to 8 pounds are being caught on swimbaits, and occasionally by a surprised trout trollers. The first stirrings of pre-spawn activity is being felt, with next week's good weather expect this to increase. Catfish anglers who patiently soak mackerel or shrimp baits are scoring a few 3-6 pound whiskerfish.

Families with children age 12 and under found excellent action on 1 to 3-pound trout in the Kids Lagoon using PowerBait. Surface temperature on the main lake is 54-57 degrees, with underwater visibility rated at 5-7 feet. The lake level is rising a few inches per week, with the intake pipe in Sierra Cove still running. Both the west shore and Trout Island launch ramps are in operation, with good launch conditions.


Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Mike Casey of Costa Mesa, 5-7 rainbow trout on a Rapala at mid-lake
Wayne Johnston of Moreno Valley, 8-5 brown trout on a Rapala at the west shore
Chris Hagopian of Redondo Beach, 6-6 channel catfish on mackerel at Rocky Point
James Getty of Silverado, 7-8 largemouth bass [released] on a swimbait at Crawdad Point


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