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 scarson@sunset.net
Report Date:
Thermalito Afterbay steelhead A few good reports on the steelhead stocked in the Thermalito Afterbay have finally leaked out, after having been a closely guarded local secret for the past few weeks. An additional 6,000 of the 10 to 14-inch steelies were stocked early this week. "Some of those ?? to ?? pound steelhead are now being caught in the Afterbay", reported Craig Bentley of Huntington's in Oroville. "The fish are biting on Roostertails, Kastmasters, Power Bait and nightcrawlers under a bobber.......
Report Date:
The trout action held up early in the week, and improved even more on Wednesday, according to Jimmy Getty at the Irvine Lake Pro Shop. "We restocked this morning [Wednesday], and the fish are biting", said Getty. Trollers had the generally better action this week, with mid-lake being the best area. Some troll fish also came from the dam area and Sierra Cove. Most productive offering was a firetiger-color CD5 Rapala. Bait fishing along the west shore slumped somewhat from the past......
