IRVINE LAKE CATFISH OPENER IS FRIDAY, JUNE 5 HUGE STOCKING OF 6-15 POUND CHANNEL CATFISH FOR NIGHT OPENER

All of Irvine Lake’s species were active again this week, with catfish poised to take over dominance, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. “The catfish were biting very well this week, and this week’s big stocking of 10,000 pounds of 6-15 pound channel catfish is sure to get our already existing large population of cats riled up, and make them more aggressive toward angler’s baits. Bass anglers also caught a lot of fish from 2-8 pounds using several different techniques, and the trout are moving deeper in the water column, but still biting well.

Getty added, “Our night-time hours will begin this Friday night, June 5, when we will be open until Midnight. On Saturday night, June 6, we will conduct our ‘King of the Cats Kickoff Qualifier’ tournament, and will be open until 2:00 AM. After that, we will be open until 11 PM on Thursdays, until Midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, until 4:00 PM on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays, and CLOSED on Tuesdays.”

Catfishing remained good all week for anglers soaking mackerel and shrimp baits in about 10 feet of water. Favored spots included Santiago Flats and Boat Dock Cove, with early AM and late afternoon hours rated best. Most of the catfish were prime “eating size” at around 2-6 pounds, but some larger whiskerfish to 15 pounds kept things interesting.

Bass fishing saw large numbers of 2-4 pound largemouth hitting on Senkos, dropshot-rigged plastics, crankbaits. A growing early AM topwater bite promises to yield an excellent sundown counterpart starting this coming weekend. A few bucketmouths from 5-8 pounds were also released by bassers tossing swimbaits.

Trout anglers were still scoring on most 2-4 pound rainbows near the dam and along the west shoreline at 15-20 feet during the AM hours. Nightcrawlers and PowerBait were the best bet for bait dunkers. Trollers have been dragging Rapalas and Needlefish off downriggers or behind 3-5 colors of leadcore line. A few bluegill are hitting on mealworms near submerged vegetation, but no crappie were checked in this week.

Families with children age 12 and under found fair numbers of trout, catfish, carp, and bluegill in the Kids lagoon on nightcrawlers and the M&M combination. Surface temperature on the main lake was 72-75 degrees, with underwater clarity ranging from stained to crystal clear, depending on the influence of wind in specific parts of the lake. The inlet pipe in Sierra Cove is running.

A huge stocking of 10,000 pounds of 6-15 pound channel catfish will take place just before the June 5 night-time hours commence, and thousands of pounds of additional catfish will go into the lake every week all summer long.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Tim O’Donnell of Anaheim, 15-0 channel catfish on a swimbait at Boat Dock Cove
Matthew Northrup of Irvine, 8-1 largemouth bass [released] on a swimbait at Boat Dock Cove
Andrew Navarro of Garden Grove, 9-0 steelhead on a Rapala at Sierra Cove
Angel Vargas of Baldwin Park, 1-4 rainbow trout on nightcrawlers at the Kids Lagoon
Andrew Navarro of Garden Grove, 1-9 bluegill on nightcrawlers at Sierra Cove
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