Trout anglers at Irvine Lake over the President's Weekend holiday were marveling at the average size of the fish, reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "On Saturday alone, we had 39 trouts over 4 pounds weighed in; that's 42-percent of the people who entered the tournament On Sunday, anglers with 4-pounders weren't even bothering to weigh-in for the tournament; it took at least a 5-pounder to even make it to the top 10." The most productive baits continue to be the new Power Bait Mice Tails and Gulp! Pinched Crawlers. Best colors for the Mice Tails have been the white/bubblegum, glow, and red/orange; while the top Pinched Crawlers have been chartreuse and natural nightcrawler. Splitshot-style has been the top rigging method, although Carolina rigging and dropshot-rigging have also worked well. To date, nobody has attempted to wacky-rig the Mice Tails, but it remains a possibility. Trollers have done well with both the standard firetiger-color CD03 and CD05 Rapala Countdowns, but also the black/silver and brook trout-colors in those same lures. The new Rapala X-Raps XR04 and XR06 sizes in clown [red/chartreuse] and hot pink have also scored fish. Only a handful of bass anglers ventured out, due to the intense trout fishing action. Moderate numbers of crappie were caught by trout trollers dragging smaller plugs. The rain event was much smaller than expected, so the usual spike in catfish numbers associated with flooding did not happen. The Kids Lagoon continued to be good for 1 to 3-pound trout for families with children age 12 and under. The recent storms added only a slight amount of extra color to the water, although future rain events may warrant calling ahead for the condition of lakeside roads. Follow Irvine Lake on Facebook, on the web at www.IrvineLake.net or call 714-649-9111.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:
1) Sonny Morkus of Anaheim Hills, 14-2 rainbow trout on a crankbait at Boat Dock Cove.
2) Scott Fullerton of West Covina, 13-10 rainbow trout on a Rapala at mid-lake.
3) Mitch Hopewell of Riverside, 13-8 rainbow trout on a Kastmaster at the west shore.
4) Robert Perez of Santa Ana, 9-8 rainbow trout on Power Bait at Woody's Cove.
5) Tim Hunt of Norwalk, 8-10 rainbow trout on a Power Worm at the flats.
6) Ed John of Tustin, 8-2 rainbow trout on a nightcrawler at the west shore.
7) Dave Pierson of Garden Grove, 7-3 brown trout on a Power Worm at Woody's Cove.
8) Clinton Whisler of Anaheim, 7-1 brown trout on a Power Worm at Woody's Cove.
9) Bill Moore of Orange, 4-9 steelhead on an X-Rap at mid-lake.
10) Chris Szabo of Anaheim, 4-1 largemouth bass [released] on a Wolfpack Lure at the flats.