Big trout are on the menu for Thanksgiving holiday weekend anglers at Irvine Lake. General manager Dave Noyes said, "The lake will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but the stocking for the holiday weekend will feature a bonus planting of 10 to 20-pound trophy rainbows from the Calaveras hatchery. After that, another allocation of the bigger fish will be put into the lake every week for the rest of the season."

The pre-Thanksgiving trout bite continues to be very good for 2 to 5 pound fish, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "We are seeing lots of limits at the cleaning tables", remarked Getty. "Most of the fish are almost 3 pounds apiece. The water is very clear and the level is still rising, it is almost all the way up to the front launch ramp and the bottom campground is already covered up."

Trollers found their results vastly improved due to the clearing waters this week. Good catches were made on CD01, CD03 and CD05 Rapalas in firetiger and fluorescent orange colors, or brown trout-color J05 Jointed Rapalas.

Bait dunkers are doing best on a Power Mouse made with a white Gulp! Salmon Egg and orange or chartreuse Power Worm tail. Regular Gulp! Trout Dough is also productive, although the clearing waters require the use of 2-pound test leader material.

Catfish continue to be caught incidentally by trout anglers offering nightcrawlers and the marshmallow/mealworm combo, including a 16.7 pounder. Limits of 2 to 6-pound catfish are still being caught by anglers who target the whiskerfish in newly-flooded areas with mackerel and Catmando baits.

Plenty of bluegill can still be caught on mealworms or waxworms for anglers so inclined. A handful of bass anglers caught decent numbers of 2 to 3-pound largemouth on jigs and dropshot baits near the red clay cliffs. The bass are up tight to the shoreline due to the rising water conditions.

Families with children age 12 and under are doing very well in the Kids Lagoon. Anglers are reminded that the trout limit in the Kids Lagoon is 3 fish, and the remainder of the 5-fish limit may be caught in the main lake.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Tibor Acs of Beja, Hungary, 19.1 sturgeon on nightcrawlers at the flats
Jorge Cruz of La Habra, 16.7 pound catfish on nightcrawlers at the west shore
Aaron Garcia of Orange, 5.3 pound trout on Power Mouse at the west shore
Eric Chang of Montebello, 5.2 pound trout on Power Bait at the flats