Trout chasers had a generally slow time of it last week at Irvine Lake. "The weather has been great, but it's been a little slow", observed Nick at the Pro Shop. "Even the mid-lake trolling that had been going very good backed off somewhat."

As always, some anglers still managed to score some very nice catches of trout, with the best numbers tallied by people who got good locations very early in the morning close by the running intake pipe in Sierra Cove. The large concentration of boats in the area spooked the fish by 8:00 AM.

The quality of the fish caught continues to be excellent, with stringers of fish exceeding 2 pounds the norm, and plenty of larger trout mixed in. Water temperatures hovering down around the 47-degree mark mean that the fish are especially spirited and hard-fighting.

Top area for shore casters was the west shoreline, and trollers still found some fish at mid-lake. A Power Mouse, especially one made with a Gulp! salmon egg fooled the most fish for bait dunkers, while the reliable firetiger-color CD5 Rapala was tops for trollers.

Even the normally cooperative trout in the Kid's Lagoon were in the same funk exhibited by the fish in the main lake. A few good catches were still tallied by families with kids age 12 and under.

Extra quantities of larger size trout, along with some exotics to spice up the stringers will be stocked for the upcoming "Red, White and Blue" President's Day Derby Feb. 17 to 19.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Al Prukop of Huntington Beach, 8.14 pound trout on a Roostertail at mid-lake
Raymin Heshmati of Laguna Niguel, 8.2 pound trout on a Power Mouse at the west shore
Richard Miller of Leisure World, 6.4 pound trout on Gulp/nightcrawler at the west shore
Jim Wilkes of Santa Ana, 6.2 pound trout and 2.8 pound largemouth bass [released] on a Mira Shad at the flats
Dave Finkelstein of Orange, 5.1 pound trout on a Kastmaster at Sierra Cove
Steve, Lexi and Savannah Sullivan of Corona, 3 limits of trout topped by a 3.1 pounder in the Kid's Lagoon

Media contacts:
Jimmy Getty at the Irvine Lake Pro Shop [714-649-9111]
Steve Carson at [email protected]