Irvine Lake anglers find catfish to 14 pounds and carp to 19 pounds active, over 200 tagged catfish are stocked

Irvine Lake management announced that more than 200 tagged catfish were stocked in the lake on Wednesday morning, in preparation for this weekend's $10,000 tagged fish derby. Some 50 whiskerfish are tagged with a number that will give the angler a possible chance at $10,000 in cash, and another 200 tagged fish are good for merchandise prizes. The derby begins on Friday; see rules at lake for details.

Plenty of eating-size catfish for almost everyone was the story at Irvine Lake this week, along with some trophy-size carp for anglers skilled in specialized European carp fishing techniques, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "The catfish bite gets really good at about 9:00 PM", observed Getty. "It keeps going until at least 11:00 PM and there is also a short-lived bite right at sundown."

Getty tipped, "A pair of anglers who really know how to fish for carp nailed several very large ones this week using European-style carp baits and techniques. They brought back big carp weighing 19, 19, 17 and 16 pounds from Santiago Flats."

Good numbers of catfish are being caught at Santiago Flats, boat dock cove and along the west shore. Productive baits include mackerel, shrimp and DuMong's.

Bass fishing busted loose for those who chase them, although most of the successful bassers kept their techniques to themselves. The two best methods included shaky head-rigged creature baits as deep as 25 feet off Rocky Point, and a topwater bite on Skitter Pops and Skitter Walks wherever baitfish schools are found. Some excellent strings of largemouth in the 3 to 5-pound class were caught and released.

Noted crappie expert Marlon Meade found his favorite quarry in abundance. "The crappie bite has been late in the evening, the later the better", said Meade. "It really starts happening at about 11:30 PM, and goes good until about 1:00 AM. Easy limits of crappie to 2 pounds, it's been crazy. Best lures are still Gulp! Minnows and Atomic Teasers in glow-in-the-dark colors."

Good numbers of bluegill and redear were caught by anglers dangling mealworms or waxworms under a bobber in boat dock cove. The Kids Lagoon was excellent for families with children age 12 and under, with extra catfish stocked this week. Water levels are dropping slowly in the main lake, but the Kids Lagoon is full and stable.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included;
Emil Jarska of Orange, 19 and 17-pound carp on dough bait at the flats Janko Grnja of Orange, 19 and 16-pound carp on dough bait at the flats Dennis Swann of Huntington Beach, 14.0 pound catfish on mackerel at the flats

Terry "Pontoon" Lairsen of Huntington Beach, 5-catfish limit totaling 40.1 pounds on mackerel at mid-lake 5-year old Tallulah Bessinger of Hollywood, 2.6 pound catfish on mackerel at the Kids Lagoon

Media contacts: Daniela Gavaldon or Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop [714-649-9111] Steve Carson at [email protected]