Starting March 1, The water level at Irvine Lake will rise dramatically over the next month, due to a large influx of water for agricultural use by the Irvine Ranch. "The lake level will come up 20 vertical feet over the next 30 days", said Irvine Lake General Manager Dave Noyes. "Depending on the rains, we will probably hold that level until mid-May, and then begin drawing it down."

Anglers will note that due to the extremely strong flow coming out of the inflow pipe at Sierra Cove, the restriction lines have been moved about 100 feet out. Once the lake level covers the pipe, the lines will be moved closer.

The lake is currently down about 40 vertical feet, so the influx should bring the level almost up to the west shore road, but not over it. That is very good news for anglers who use the road to more easily access some of the lake's best fishing spots. The water should also spread the fish out more evenly across the lake, and in particular will help the spawning success of the lake's bass and crappie populations.

In addition, lake management announced that overnight camping will be included FREE with paid fishing admission for the entire month of March.

Trout anglers at Irvine Lake saw better action on a slightly smaller grade of trout, reported Nick Sepulveda at the Pro Shop. "We put in a whole bunch of stocker-size fish averaging about a pound apiece this week. It really improved production for the weekend warrior and casual angler. There were still a decent number of 4-pound class fish being caught, including the fish that won the benefit tournament that we had for shop manager Daniela Galvadon who is out for surgery."

Shorebound bait anglers are doing best along the west shore, with the Power Bait/nightcrawler combo topping the list. Boaters made a beeline across the lake for Sierra Cove, where some very good action was available in the early morning hours. Many anglers reported a puzzling increase in the number of short-biting fish.

Some lake veterans were tearing the fish up on the chartreuse mini jig/orange-peel Power Trout Worm combo fished on 2-pound line. A few members of the Berkley Pro-Team like Marlon Meade were observed field-testing the upcoming Gulp! Trout Dough, and reported some stellar catches.

Trollers caught fish mid-lake by dragging firetiger-color CD03 and CD05 Rapalas, using both toplining and lead-core line techniques. Overall trolling catches were down somewhat from the previous week.

Bass anglers are still finding generally slow action, but some signs indicate the spring bite will arrive soon, with scattered largemouth over 7 pounds hitting jigs at the red clay cliffs. Catfish anglers have similarly seen their quarry stirring a bit, with some whiskerfish to 5 pounds coming from Santiago Flats.

The pipe in Sierra Cove continues to run, and the lake level has risen about a foot in the past week. Good catches of smaller trout were taken from the Kids Lagoon by families with kids age 12 and under.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included;
Mike Magio of Orange, 7.0 pound trout on Power Bait at the west shore
Scott Nakata of Garden Grove, 6.12 pound trout on nightcrawlers at the west shore
Bob Rickerl of Orange, 5.8 pound trout on a mini jig at Sierra Cove
Steve Hercht of Orange, 5.1 pound trout on a mini jig at Sierra Cove
Alex "Husler" Breton of Huntington Beach, 4.0 pound trout on a mini jig at Sierra Cove

Media contacts:
Dave Noyes or Jimmy Getty at the Irvine Lake Pro Shop [714-649-9111]
Steve Carson at scarson@sunset.net