10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09

Finally got out for our monthly trip to Irvine. It was a long week and was looking forward to getting out there. My cousin Jason, Jonathan, my friend Deepak and myself loaded up at 6am and headed down. The tournament is this weekend, so we decided on coming Friday to beat the crowds, which were light all day. Overall great day, caught 5 quality fish about 9-10lbs total string and lost 6 fish as well. Good mix on bait, hits on 4-5 colors and types of powerbait and on night crawlers. One thing we changed from last time was adding a little more weight to get out farther. 1/2 oz egg sinkers this time. We had more hits and fish then last time.

We tried a spot on the backside of trout island first but there was a strong wind coming in, so we moved down to the flats near the concrete launch where the fish stocks happen (See the end of the post for the fish stock for stocking photos) in the flats and where we fished the last time we came on 12/30. The winds were still coming on strong, so we moved a little more into the cove for some cover.

From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09

Got the lines in the water and got our first hookup of the day about 20 minutes in. Nice size rainbow about 2.5-3#. Nice fight on my light rig, 4# test. It took the peach salmon egg powerbait.

From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09

My son Jonathan got the big winner of the day. Nice rainbow about 3lbs or so. He’s getting better all the time ;) Some great photos with Jason.

From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09
From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09

My friend Deepak also caught his first rainbow. He had a great time, caught two fish today and lost a few.

From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09
From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09
From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09

We ended up catching all of our fish on the day before 11:30 at the same spot. We were ready for lunch so we packed it up and headed over and got lunch at the tackle shop. We tried the lagoon for a little while with no luck and tried trout island with no luck either. So we decided to go back to where we started. Decided not to hike back to the same spot so pulled up in the curve and set up. Got some good hits and hooked up with something big but lost it in the weeds. Met some great people as well.

Pick of Sean (Me) and Jonathan

From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09

It was around 3:30 and the stocking truck pulled up for the the weekend. My son and cousin went over and watched as they stocked. Looks like its going to be a great weekend for fishing. Some really big fish were planted as well.

Planting photos

From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09
From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09
From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09

We were getting ready to pack up and go and a big, and I mean big planted rainbow came swimming by. I would guess in the 15# range, it was in really shallow water and working its way down the shore. We followed and took photos and video. Looks like it might be the winner this weekend.

Monster Rainbow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zKVb4oiSFc

From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09

Overall great day of fishing, look forward to next month!

Final count

From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09

One last picture

From 10th Trip: Irvine Lake 1/16/09

About the Author

Sean loves to fish in Southern California and this site is his journal of his adventures in fishing. He started fishing when he was a little guy with his dad David, and has continued to this day with his family. In his day job, Sean has been a graphic designer for over 15 years, designing everything from in-store displays and signage for supermarkets to e-commerce auction sites for an online consumer electronics company. He was a web and graphic designer then later an art director for McMullen Argus Publishing (Primedia), building and working on sites for Lowrider Magazine and Super Chevy, plus 30 other automotive magazine sites. Sean seized the opportunity to teach other aspiring designers - a passion that took him first to Learning Tree University and then to Golden West College in Huntington Beach, CA, where he has been an integral part of the renowned digital arts department for more than ten years. Throughout his teaching career, Sean maintained a freelance business, designing for clients including the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards), Image Comics and many more. See his work at http://www.glumace.com.