Chilly Irvine Lake mornings yield trout to 13.14 pounds, free trout fishing seminar set for Saturday

A free trout fishing seminar will be conducted at 8:00 AM on January 26 at Irvine Lake. Instructor will be legendary trout expert Marlon Meade, along with the Irvine Lake Pro team. Instruction will cover jigs, trolling and bait fishing. The seminar is free with paid admission; reservations can be made online at irvinelake@aol.com or by phone at 714-649-9111.

What passes for winter weather in Southern California means bundling up in the morning, and very good trout fishing all day, reported Nick Sepulveda at the Irvine Lake Pro Shop. "It was freezing on Sunday morning", observed Sepulveda. "It got down to 28 degrees, and there was ice all along the edge of the lake."

The mid-week temperatures have been only slightly warmer, although no more ice has been spotted. Water temperature was 52.5 on Wednesday morning. All roads around the lake are currently open, but with the threat of rain, certain road closures are possible. Please call ahead for road conditions.

Bait dunkers continued to outfish trollers this week, with the preferred leader length being 12 to 15 inches. Good catches were made on Power Bait, nightcrawlers and various constructions of the Power Mouse.

Most of the trout being caught are running a respectable 2 to 5 pounds, but plenty of bigger fish from 6 to 13 pounds or more are keeping things interesting and wreaking havoc with ultra-light tackle.

Some of the very large trout currently being stocked are breaking off the anglers using 2 pound leader material. Bumping up slightly on the leader strength may help with these trophies. Boaters using electronics have been amazed at the large schools of trout, with screens lighting up due to the aggregations of fish.

Some persistent trollers are still scoring fish on CD03 and CD05 Rapalas. Both trollers and bait anglers are catching fish at Trout Island, the west shore, Santiago Flats and near the boat docks.

The few catfish chasers who gave it a go did fairly well on 2 to 5-pound whiskerfish using mackerel. Persistent bass anglers found fair action on largemouth to 4 pounds using jigs along rocky banks. The Kids Lagoon kicked out excellent catches of trout to families with children age 12 and under. The west shore shuttle service has been discontinued.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
Adrian Pintor of Hollywood, 13.14 pound trout on nightcrawlers near the dock
Ken Lewis of Orange, 12.14 pound trout on a TD Minnow at mid-lake
Don Demarse of Lomita, 11.6 pound trout on Power Bait at the west shore
Scott Noesworthy of Orange, 10.1 pound trout on a Power Mouse at the west shore
Ron Morlan of Anaheim, 10.0 pound trout on nightcrawlers near the dock
Jamie Migaoka of Irvine, 8.8 pound trout on Power Bait at the west shore
Tammy Cairns of Santa Ana, 8.12 pound trout on Power Bait at the west shore

Media contacts:
Daniela Gavaldon or Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop [714-649-9111]
Steve Carson at scarson@sunset.net