Season kicked off with heavy stocking of quality rainbows
BY MIKE STEVENS
IRVINE – For a long time, Irvine Lake stood as the premier local lake for anglers residing in that area of Orange and Los Angeles County, and when the full-power version of the fishery shut down, many of them had no choice but to travel to other counties to fish lakes hours away just to find respectable fishing at a real lake. The availability of fishing at “The Vine” eventually came back albeit at a severely stripped-down level, but the consensus in the angling community is the current version so nowhere close to what the lake is capable of, and it’s a big shame.
Trout stocking did return to the picture, and but the quality of the fish stocked paled in comparison to that in years past. This year, Irvine Lake was able to open the trout season by showing off how it once was with its first round of stocking that included some very respectable rainbows. Still, it was primarily the anglers willing to put in the time and footsteps that reaped the rewards.
“Met up with my friends Pikey Hayes and his son Benson Moreno bright and early on the West Shoreline at Irvine Lake,” said Andrew Navarro of Top Notch Leadheads. We had a tew short bites, one lost fish and hundreds of steps taken with no fish to show, so we decided to make one more move and it paid off. We found them with Ben leading the charge with a solid rainbow, a mean fish no doubt with screaming runs, going airborne and then digging into the sticks and all. He stayed cool, calm and collected for the entire fight and got it to the net. A nail biter, and we all are super stoked for him. What a gorgeous and angry fish.”
After that score, Navarro wasted little time getting into the game himself.
“After the celebration, I continued covering water with a 3/32-ounce and a 2-inch miniswim and my rig got stopped cold shortly after,” he said. This fish used its entire weight and felt super heavy, vicious head shakes and all. He tried really hard to get me into the sticks, so I ran straight into the lake and had no choice but to pull or it was adios trophy ‘vine buck! This fish really dug deep to get me into the thick of it but I stopped that thing cold and pulled him back out for Pikey to come charging in for the scoop.”
Navarro referred to the trout delivery prior to all that a “monster stock,” and it was pretty clear that navigating the lake from parking to shoreline to fishing was no…walk in the park.
“I wish I can tell you it was as easy as walking to the water and catching fish, but it’s not,” said Navarro. “Not only do you have to hike in from the parking lot, but you also have to hike around looking for the trout. It took me two days and hundreds of casts to come across them. Just a little heads up for those looking to get in on this.”
He went on to tell WON he saw trout being caught all over the lake, but it appeared as though the biggest ones were being caught from the West Shore. Navarro also spotted some lightning trout over his 2-day mission, but they were not among the biters.
“It’s just a matter of time before they start to bite,” he said. “Most of the anglers catching fish are bait anglers using PowerBait or Mice Tails. The water is stained with a 3-foot visibility, and most of the fish I’m seeing caught are in less than 8 feet of water. There are tons of snags, so make sure to bring plenty of terminal tackle.”
The chances or Irvine Lake continuing to stock trout of this quality throughout the season are slim based on what was planted last season, but the lake showing flashes of what once was can only help prospects of a return to those days.
As for the rest of this season trout were stocked the week of Dec. 9, and the remaining plants on the schedule are the weeks of January. 6 and 20 and every week of February.