Plenty of big trout were the story at Irvine Lake this week, reported Tony Martinez at the Pro Shop. "We had a lot of big fish this week", said Martinez. "Trolling was definitely the hot ticket, with the fish hitting mostly mid-lake on a little bit of everything."

The rains that fell on Saturday night and Sunday morning failed to put much of a stain on the water, making 10 to 16 inches the leader length of choice for bait dunkers. Chartreuse Power Bait in combination with a half-nightcrawler was that standard offering for shorebound anglers. Many of the savvy lake regulars were mostly using a Power Mouse made with a white Gulp! Egg as the head and a chartreuse Power Trout Worm as the tail

Trollers did well dragging firetiger-color Rapala CD05's, CD03's and CD01's, along with Roostertails and Blue Fox Vibrax spinners. Mid-lake was the best location, but some fish were caught along the dam restriction lines and the west shoreline.

In addition to the usual 1 to 4-pounders filling the stringers, many anglers are getting a shot at much larger trout ranging from 5 to nearly 12 pounds. Some of these trout are steelhead-strain, or are just plain pugnacious, resulting in broken lines and "one that got away" stories.

The overall excellent weather is bringing the fish into a spring condition. Numerous large balls of shad have been seen near the surface, with trout boiling all around them. The pipe continues to run in Sierra Cove, concentrating both fish and anglers in the general vicinity. Excellent catches were reported out of the Kid's Lagoon for families with children 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" Presidents' Day Derby that runs February 17 to 19.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Howard Jameson of Perris, 11.9 pound trout on a Roostertail at the west shore
Perry Green of Anaheim, 11.4 pound trout on a Thomas Buoyant at mid-lake
Paul Castaneda of Idaho, 10.3 pound trout on a Rapala at mid-lake
Mark Zerby of Long Beach, 10.0 pound trout on a nightcrawler at the west shore
Johnny Faiello of Long Beach, 8.8 pound trout on a Roostertail at the west shore
Stan Kong of Anaheim, 7.12 pound trout on Power Bait at the west shore
Art Villa of Orange, 7.0 pound trout on nightcrawlers at the west shore
9-year old James Anna of Trabuco Canyon, 5-trout limit totaling 17.1 pounds on nightcrawlers at the west shore

Media contacts:

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

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