976-FRESH Freshwater Fish Report

Jiim Klepner of Hunigton Beach scored this trophy Largemouth Bass today while fishing a Huddelston Deluxe inthe Flats. The Largemouth weighted in at 8lbs and was released after the photo.

SANTA ANA RIVER LAKES: A 20-pound rainbow trout caught by Gus Torrealba, Corona, was the top trout in a good bite. Most anglers have been catching five-fish stringers of 1-8 to three pound rainbows on a wide variety of floating dough baits, small trout jigs, and trout plastics. The ìmouseî style of bait-plastic combos have been very good, and the nightcrawler-Power Bait combo has also been producing a lot of trout. Frank Guzman, Sante Fe Springs, have five rainbows for a total of 13 pounds, including one at four pounds, fishing jigs at the Bubble Hole. Vicente Lopez, Monrovia, landed five trout for 11-8 total, including one at 3-8, and Santiago Osnaya, Anaheim, landed five for 11-4. Weekly plants ongoing. Tagged trout event starts Feb. 16. Other than float tubes, no water craft are allowed due to fears of invasive quagga mussels being introduced into the water system. No state fishing license is required here. Information: 714-632-7851 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.

IRVINE LAKE: Good trout action continues here for both shore-bound lure and bait anglers and trollers. The bait action has been best in the mornings, while the trollers are scoring fish throughout the day. Top baits have been an array of Power Baits in salmon egg red, rainbow, chartreuse, and lemon twist, while guys tossing artificials have been using Gulp! Fat Trout Worms in white and chartreuse rigged wacky style (hooked in the middle of the worm) and fished drop-shot style. Trolling has been with a variety of Rapala and SC Shiners in firetiger, black and silver, and pink along the west shoreline, on the flats, and at the cliffs near the trees. Top fish this were were an 11-4 rainbow landed by Taylor Donahue, 6, Norco, at mid-lake, while Chris Iannitcari, Temecula, landed a 10-2 rainbow on Power Bait off the west shore. Hong Nzuyen, Buena Park, landed a 9-8 on a Rapala, while Ben Gray, Cerritos, had a 7-6. There has continued to be a fair bass bite on plastics in 30 to 35 feet of water on rocky points, with some fish starting to move shallower with the warm days this past week. Most are in the two-pound range. Bluegill and crappie are slow, but the a few catfish are showing. No state fishing license is required here. Lake information: 714-649-9111 or www.irvinelake.net.

LAGUNA NIGUEL LAKE: Heavy stockings of trout every Tuesday and ideal weather made for very good fishing this past week. The best action continues to be on nightcrawlers and just about any color of Power Bait dipped in Bite-On garlic scent. Also good action on shad-like crank baits, and fly anglers continue to hammer fish on the flats using bead head midges in black and red patterns. Top fish this week was a 9-10 rainbow landed by Ken Zapanta, Mission Viejo, jigging a chartruse and orange Power Mouse fishing from his float tube on the flats. Art Ng, Diamond Bar, weighed in a 9-8 fly fishing a zebra midge from a boat. Fernando Brito, Stanton, caught an 8-12, while Kirk Makishima, Arcadia, nailed an 8-10, also fly-0fishing. Dave Watanabe, Pasadena, caught an 8-9, and Daryl Scherer, Huntington Beach, landed an 8-8. Phillip Imamura, Cerritos, caught an eight-pounder, and Chuck Doucot, Costa Mesa won the big fish honors at last Saturdayís ëBite-On Bowlí fishing Derby, also with an eight-pounder. The lake is scheduled to receive trout plants each week through April. Information: 949-362-3885 or www.lagunaniguellake.com.

IRVINE LAKE: The trout action has been good for both bait anglers and for trollers working along the west shoreline and Santiago Flats. Boat Dock Cove, Trout Island, and the west shoreline have been top spots for shore anglers. Top tactic has been to drift one of the new Gulp! Pinched Crawlers under a bobber with a small split shot to pull is down. The best color has been natural in the clear water with chartreuse a good bet in areas where the water might be less clear. The usual array of Power Baits, Mice Tails, countdown Rapalas and SC Shiners have also been producing plenty of fish. Top fish reported was an 8-10 rainbow landed by Doug Ramirez, Westminster, on a nightcrawler on the flats. Drew Navarro, Orange, had a 5-2 brown on a Trout King in Woodyís, while Miguel Armala, Santa Ana, landed a four-pound brown on a nightcrawler in Boat Dock Cove. There has continued to be a fair bass bite on plastics in 30 to 35 feet of water on rocky points. Joe Nuinbuis, Newport Beach, landed a 6-13 bass on a Huddleston in Sierra Cove. Bluegill and crappie are slow, but the a few catfish are showing. No state fishing license is required here. Lake information: 714-649-9111 or www.irvinelake.net.

LAGUNA NIGUEL LAKE: Good to excellent trout action continues. Top fish was a 14-8 caught by Herb Baker, Fountain Valley, on white PowerBait. Tim Morlan, Anaheim, landed an 11-1 on rainbow PowerBait. David Kobayashi, Torrance, landed a five-fish limit topped off with a 9-9 rainbow fishing a rainbow PowerBait-nightcrawler combo. Ryan Okamoto, Gardena, and Diego Gamboa, Hacienda Heights, each landed eight-pound rainbows. The bite has been good on nightcrawlers with Bite On garlic scent, and white was the top color of PowerBait. Smaller crankbaits, especially the Mirror Shad have also been good. Fly anglers using bead head midges in black and red are also scoring. There is a Bite On Trout Derby this Saturday, with the top prize and Ipod2 (check the web site for details). The lake is scheduled to receive trout plants each week through April. Information: 949-362-3885 or www.lagunaniguellake.com.

SANTA ANA RIVER LAKES: Very good trout action continues with heavy weekly trout plants. The big fish of the week was an 11-8 caught by Frank Guzman, Santa Fe Springs, on a chartreuse floating bait at the Bubble Hole. Mark and David Lubetski, both of Downey, had a pair of rainbows fishing rainbow PowerBait at Levitzí Corner and the big fish was an 10-2 trout. Santiago Palacios, West Covina, had a 9-8 to top off his seven-fish, 20-pound stringer that also included a couple of catfish. He was fishing with shrimp and chartreuse floating boats at the Bubble Hole. Joe Morrell, Whittier, landed a 6-12 rainbow on a nightcrawler, while Tony and Armando Castro, Valencia, landed five rainbows that weighed 15 pounds total. The big fish was a six-pounder, and all the trout were landed on chartreuse trout plastics. Andreus Virgen, Whittier, landed a five-pounder to top off his 11-fish, 22-pound stringer fishing small trout jigs off La Palma Point. The hot bite has been best on the usual array of baits with most anglers fishing floating dough baits, plastic trout worms, small trout jigs, and inflated nightcrawlers. Adding one of the prepared scents, especially garlic, has improved the effectiveness of any of the baits or lures used. Other than float tubes, no water craft are allowed due to fears of invasive quagga mussels being introduced into the water system. No state fishing license is required here. Information: 714-632-7851 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.

Watch the SPECIAL STOCKING of Brooks, Browns and Stealhead for THIS SATURDAY’S event #2 of the Lip RipperZ Takeover Tournament Trail at Irvine Lake!! More details at www.lipripperz.com

SANTA ANA RIVER LAKES: A 13-pound rainbow landed by Sherman Hall, Glendora, topped the parade of quality trout weighed over the past week, but there were a lot of nice fish showing as part of good stringers. Hall was fishing a chartreuse floating bait in the big lake to land his 13-pounder. Edgar Hernandez, Santa Ana, had a 24-pound stringer topped off with a 10 1/2-pound rainbow, all caught from Chrisí Pond on chartreuse floating bait. Phil Nguyen, Garden Grove, had an 18 3/4-pound, four-fish stringer, and his top trout was a nine-pound, two-ounce rainbow, all on mini jigs near the boat dock. An 8 3/4-pound rainbow was landed by Jim Thorpe, Laguna Woods, on a chartreuse trout worm, while Joey Morgan and Josh Capotrio, of Placentia and Yorba Linda respectively, topped off their stringer with a 7 1/4-pound rainbow. One of the top five-fish stringers of the week was posted by lake-regular Craig Joaquim, Anaheim, fishing nightcrawlers off the Sandy Beach. It weighed in at 19 1/2-pounds and included a 6 1/2-pounder. Leo Martinez, Buena Park, had a 10-fish, 23 1/2-pound stringer from the Bubble Hole on Brown jigs with Love Sauce. The best bite continues to be on floating dough baits or a wide variety of small lures, with trout jigs, small plastics, spinners, and spoons all getting fish. Adding garlic scent, or one of the other many scents on the market, seems to improve the action on all of the baits and lures. Other than float tubes, no water craft are allowed due to fears of invasive quagga mussels being introduced into the water system. No state fishing license is required here. Information: 714-632-7851 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.

IRVINE LAKE: The trout action has been very good for both bait anglers (from shore or boat) and for trollers working along the west shoreline and Santiago Flats. Woodyís Cove and Boat Dock Cove have been top spots for shore anglers. Top tactic has been to drift one of the new Gulp! Pinched Crawlers under a bobber with a small split shot to pull is down. The best color has been natural in the clear water with chartreuse a good bet in areas where the water might be less clear. The usual array of Power Baits, Mice Tails, countdown Rapalas and SC Shiners have also been producing plenty of fish. The seasonís best brown trout landed when a nine-pounder was caught by Tim Blackshire, Ontario, on a Shaunís Smoking Jig in Woodyís. Top rainbow was a 13-4 landed by Don Jaramillo, Orange, on a Rapala at Trout Island. Jeff Price, Orange, had a 12-pound steelhead on a Rapala on the flats. Nham Doam, Moreno Valley, landed a 10-10 rainbow, while Ricardo Zepeda, Santa Ana, had a 9-10. Lash Saiello, Long Beach, landed an 8-2, and a six-pound brown was caught by David Gonzales, Pico Rivera. There has continued to be a fair bass bite on plastics, and the Alabama Rig (modified to use no more than three hooks so itís California legal) has also been getting quite a few fish. While the bluegill bite has been slow, Chris Hagopian, Redondo Beach, landed a 1-3 ëgill on a nightcrawler off the west shore. No state fishing license is required here. Lake information: 714-649-9111 or www.irvinelake.net.

LAGUNA NIGUEL LAKE: A new lake record rainbow at 17-pounds, 10-ounces was landed by Rick Morales, Glendora, on purple Power Bait. Overall, the bite has been excellent the day or two after the Tuesday plants and then just good through the rest of the week. Lots of limits, and quite a few quality fish each week. Jeff Densley, Laguna Niguel, landed a 12-pounder, Steve Gombrich, Long Beach, had an 11-8, and Danny Mun, La Mirada, also had an 11-8. Robby Chor, San Pedro, weighed in an 11-5, while Erwin LeBlanc, San Clemente, caught an 11-pounder. There were another 14 fish from five to nine pounds reported. Power Bait in any color seems to be working along with inflated night crawlers dipped in garlic scent. Bait fisherman are using short leaders with the majority of fish coming from shallow water. Orange, Chartreuse and White trout worms, jigs and crank baits working well for those throwing artificials, and fly-fisherman continue to hammer fish on the flats using bead head midges in black and red patterns. The lake is scheduled to receive trout plants each week through April. Information: 949-362-3885 or www.lagunaniguellake.com.

The trout action has remained good at Santa Ana River Lakes over the past week with a lot of limits of one to two-pound fish and a few bigger fish to sweeten the deal.

The top rainbow reported was a 10 3/4-pounder landed by Obed Sandoval, Norwalk, fishing a nightcrawlers off La Palma Point to go with the 3 1/2-pound rainbow he also landed. Bart Von Bargen, Huntington Beach, caught a 7 1/2-pounder on a chartreuse Power Mouse in Chris’ Pond. George delaCruz, Glendora, had a 6.6-pound trout fishing Crave floating bait at the Bubble Hole, while Gus Rincon, Lynwood, landed a 6 1/2-pounder on chartreuse floating bait off the sandy beach.

John, Bryan, and Eric Castaneda, all Cypress, had a 14-trout stringer that weighed in at 20 3/4 pounds fishing chartreuse floating bait off La Palma Point. Scott Soseworthy, Orange, have five rainbows for 13 pounds topped off with a 3-6 trout on trout jigs at the Pump House.

The best bite continues to be on floating dough baits or a wide variety of small lures, with trout jigs, small plastics, spinners, and spoons all getting fish. Adding garlic scent to the baits and lures has also seemed to improve the action.

There will be a bonus plant of Nebraska Tailwalkers this week for the upcoming Martin Luther King three-day weekend, and there will also be three night-fishing days this weekend — Friday through Sunday nights.

The lakes are open seven days a week with fishing allowed from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on day passes or from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on an evening pass. Each of these passes is $22. Seniors pay only $20. All of these passes have a five-fish limit. For kids 4 to 13, a three-fish pass is just $9. There are 24-hour passes available each month on Friday and Saturday nights nearest the full moon, and this month that includes Sunday night because of the three-day holiday — Jan. 13-15. These 24-hour passes cost $60 and anglers can bring a spouse and up to three kids to help fill the 24-hour pass 15-fish limit. Camping at SARL is also free with a 24-hour pass. For Santa Ana River Lakes fishing information, call 714-632-7830 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.

SANTA ANA RIVER LAKES: A 10-pound, four-ounce rainbow captured the top spot in first event in the Lip RipperZ Tournament series held here this past Saturday. It took a trout at eight pounds or better to crack into the top 10 during the Lip RipperZ event, and the winning fish was a 10-4 caught by Geo Altamirana, Santa Ana, fishing a jig in Chris Pond. Second place went to Ben Hinojosa, Costa Mesa, with a 10-2 rainbow, while Brian Noble, Riverside, was in third with a 9-12 trout. Fourth place was a tie between Steven Maldonato, Fullerton, and Bob Barr, Tustin, with trout at 9-2. The weekís overall big trout was the 12-8 caught by Darian Boyland, Los Angeles, to top off his three-fish, 17 1/2-pound stringer fishing a chartreuse dough bait at the Bubble Hole. Ruben, Jess, and Mathew Covarrubias, all La Habra, had four trout for 19 pounds, including a 12-pound rainbow, off the west shore. Tim Morelaval, Anaheim, had a 10-pound rainbow at Levitzí Corner on floating bait. Top stringer reported was a catch of 10-fish posted by Juan Gonzalez Sr., and Juan Jr, both Fontana, that weighed in at 27 1/4 pounds, including one fish at 8 1/2 pounds. The best bite continues to be on floating dough baits or a wide variety of small lures, with trout jigs, small plastics, spinners, and spoons all getting fish. Other than float tubes, no water craft are allowed due to fears of invasive quagga mussels being introduced into the water system. No state fishing license is required here. Information: 714-632-7851 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.

IRVINE LAKE: The trout action has been excellent for trollers working the west shoreline, near the dam, at the cliffs, and through the middle part of the lake. Limits are coming on shad-like baits fishing in 30 to 40 feet of water. Shore anglers are doing best fishing in Boat Dock Cove on rainbow garlic and hatchery pellet Power Baits or chartreuse Gulp! Nightcralwers fishing under a bobber are also getting fish. The trout are cruising near the surface or right along the bottom in the slightly off-color water. Top fish was an 11-2 steelhead landed by Roger Cole, Orange, on a Phoebe at the cliffs, while a 10-4 rainbow was caught by Bruce Campbell, Hacienda Heights, on an SC Shiner, also at the cliffs. John King, Brea, and Brent Hauck, San Clemente, both landed a 10-2 trout. Jayden Doffelmeyer, 8, Lakeview Terrace, and Luke Montoya, 9, Long Beach, both had 4-6 brown trout. While the bass bite has slowed, there is still a pretty fair bite on two to four-pounder fishing in deeper water along the Red Clay Cliffs and off Rocky Point on jigs and drop-shot plastics.
Catfish, wipers, panfish all slow, but Jason Haupt, Orange, had a 7-13 wiper, while Seth Mostero, San Juan Capistrano, landed a 7-6 wiper. No state fishing license is required here. Lake information: 714-649-9111 or www.irvinelake.net.

LAGUNA NIGUEL LAKE: Very good trout action continues after another 2,000-pound plant on Tuesday this week. The best action has been on inflated nightcrawlers dipped in garlic scent and floating baits in chartreuse and white. A wide variety of trout plastics, small jigs, and small cranks are working for the lure flingers. Fly anglers fishing bead head midges on the flats are also scoring. The fish are cruising right along the bottom requiring short leaders and bottom-bumping presentations. Best rainbow reported this past week was a 12-10 landed by Jeff Weaver, Riverside, on a green Power Worm fished on the flats from a float tube. Tony Polanco, Carson, had a 12-pounder on a white Power Mouse, while Salvador Juarez, Lake Forest, landed an 11-9. Glen Matsushita, Gardena, had an 11-pounder, and Larry Cable, Mission Viejo, landed a 10-2. Ray Palafox, Burbank, had a 7-6, and Paul Matsushima, Cerritos, topped off his five-fish stringer with a seven-even. The lake is scheduled to receive trout plants each week through April. Information: 949-362-3885 or www.lagunaniguellake.com.