No babble in catching O.C.'s first brook trout

[spectr17]

No babble in catching O.C.'s first brook trout

December 25, 2001

By DAVE STREGE, The Orange County Register

A new chapter in Irvine Lake history began last week when the first brook trout was caught at the lake by an Orange County angler.

It is the first brook trout known to have been caught in the county.

Bob Miller used an inflated nightcrawler to catch the 3.8-pound brook from the west shore Friday.

A handful of brook and German brown trout were among the 3,500 pounds of rainbow trout stocked in the lake Thursday morning by Calaveras Trout Farm. Another 500 pounds of rainbows were stocked in the kids' lagoon.

Randy Mindoro of Studio City landed a 4.55-pound brown on a Rapala, trolled by the dam. Jim Niemiec of Irvine Lake reported it as a lake-record brown.

More browns and brooks are expected to be stocked in January and February. Those planted by Calaveras last week were beautifully colored, as were the rainbows.

Time will tell how good they bite and fight, but they do show potential.

 

[jackrabbit]

Man, it's reports like this that sometimes makes me wish I was still living in So. Cal.  I live at the base of the Southern Sierras now, and it's great fishing Spring through Fall.  But I do miss those big beautiful fish at Irvine Lake -- and now Brookies and Browns to boot!  I'm gonna have to try the Upper Kings River this winter (catch and release only), just to get my mind off this report!

 

[hronk]

I know that this sounds Ch....n S..., but here goes.  Irvine Lake advertised WILD Brown Trout planted in the lake last week.  Check out your last W.O.N.  Now either that is false advertising or they should be busted for taking fish out of our lakes and streams for the purpose of selling them.  They even want to establish new state records for the planted fish that they have there!...  Am I the only one that thinks that this is BS........  Ok, I've come to my senses now.  I appologize for p...ing people off....Yeah, right.....hronk

 

[jackrabbit]

I do have to agree with you Hronk.  I never did understand how farmed fish, put into a pay-to-fish private water impoundment (some without enough natural forage and habitat to sustain a reproductive population of those fish at that), could be entered into the record books.  Irvine Lake has been planting catfish over 60 pounds for several years, and then they paid $100 cash to the lucky angler if he/she released it to be caught again.  I don't believe any farm raised fish, planted in a pay-to-fish pond should go into any record book other than a private pond record-book.  Nonetheless, it sure is great to hook up to one of those big suckers when other waters are closed, or you just feel like doing the private pond routine.  But then again, it's not a far fetch from Lake Skinner's Stripers, and the San Diego city Lakes, that have protected fish that thrive and then produce records when they are caught under controlled conditions.  I have to agree though, a trophy wild fish, caught in wild waters, is the best trophy of all, and in my book, the only true trophy.  I'll be looking forward to your scouting reports about  the Eastern Sierra prior to the April opener.  I always look forward to your reports, thanx for passing them on.