FishRap News


Photo by: Steve Carson
Caught with a Combo -- Brad Sampson of Long Beach caught this 15.04-pound channel catfish using a shrimp, mackerel combo in the Santiago Flats at Irvine Lake.

“The catfish are still holding very tight to the brush,” observed Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. “Best bait for daytime catfish anglers has been the marshmallow/mealworm combo; they are only biting on mackerel at night,” he added.

Most catfish limits this week were made up of prime eating-size whiskerfish in the 2- to 6-pound class.

The majority of anglers concentrated their effort on Santiago Flats. Favored baits were mackerel, bonito, shrimp, DuMong’s and Gulp!, with daylight fish responding best to marshmallow/mealworm combinations.

Crappie anglers found excellent numbers of slabsides to about 1 pound, using white Atomic Tubes or white 2-inch Gulp! Jigging Grubs rigged on 1/16 or 1/32 ball heads.

Easy limits are being caught during late afternoon to early evenings by drifting or fishing the jigs around schools of shad. Nighttime anglers setting out floating lanterns are scoring fish, but massive amounts of shad fry are keeping the crappie filled up.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included a 15.4-pound blue catfish caught and released by Brad Sampson of Long Beach, on mackerel/shrimp at the flats; a 6-pound channel catfish caught by Derek Reynolds of Arcadia, on mackerel at the flats; and a 7.10-pound largemouth bass caught and released by Donny Peterson of Anaheim, on a Senko at Rocky Point.

The inaugural Crappie Classic Tournament saw 53 anglers take home some great goodie bags from Berkley, along with numerous raffle prizes handed out by Bob Hoose of Berkley. The field was topped by Brandon Woodward, who had a five-fish stringer totaling 3.14 pounds.

For bass, very good numbers of 2- to 4-pound largemouth were reportedly caught on points, from the surface down to 50 feet on a variety of lures. Good spots included the Red Clay Cliffs, Rocky Point, and Sierra Cove.

Bluegill and redear sunfish are biting well on mealworms and Gulp! Crickets fished at middle-depths of 5 to 10 feet near submerged brush. Moderate numbers of 2- to 3-pound trout were caught incidental to the pursuit of other species.

For families with children 12 and younger, very good numbers of catfish are being caught in the Kids Lagoon on the marshmallow/mealworm combo.

The main lake water level is receding slowly, and the road to Trout Island is now open to vehicle traffic. Surface water temperature is 76 to 78 degrees.

For more information on Irvine Lake, visit irvinelake.net.

This article first appeared in the July 2010 issue of FishRap. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated.