The California Fishing Show

         The 22nd Annual Free Youth Fishing Derby winners

6-12-08 

Little Anglers Take Home Prizes

Story & photo by Cat Robertson

Approximately 200 little anglers showed up to enjoy the 22nd annual free Youth Fishing Derby last Saturday, and everyone had a great time. They were catching them left and right, and adorable 3-year-old Andrew Baca took home two trophies—a tackle box full of tackle and a Spiderman fishing pole. He not only caught the biggest fish in his age group—7 years old and under—but he took home the prize for biggest catch of the day with his 2.8-pound trout.

The other winners in that age group include Shane Hansen, who took home the prize for second place with his 2.6-pounder; Richard Jara placed third with his 2.5-pound trout; and Lisa Martinez was the winner for most fish caught.

In the 8 to 12 years old category, which is for most trout caught, Matthew Mendiola had a total weight of 7.4 pounds for a first-place win, Tavis Leinart had 5.7 pounds and Austin Lightcap had 4.9 pounds. Joshua Tey took home the trophy for most crappie caught when he brought in 10.

In the 13 to 15 years old category Alexandra Woodhall won first place with 4.1 pounds of trout, Matthew Hatch got second with .9 pounds of trout and Austin Esposito had .2 pounds of trout for the third-place win.

Even those who didn't catch the biggest or most fish had a chance to win some great prizes. The big prize at the raffle was the Creek Company float tube valued at more than $200. Pablo Angulo of Long Beach was the lucky winner of the float tube, and couldn't wait to try it out. This was his first derby He may not have caught a fish, but he did have the winning raffle ticket.

Little 6-year-old Brian Wilt caught a 1.7-pound trout. His mother Tammi said he enters derbies all the time and he just loves to fish. He had his trout swimming around in a bucket and had plans for it. “I'm gonna let it go so it can live more and have its eggs,” Brian said.

Mario Velazquez brought his three kids to participate in the derby. They didn't catch any fish, but they had winning raffle tickets and took home some cool prizes. “They entered the derby last year, and they're here now. It's a tradition now,” Velazquez said.

Taylor Bence had the big upset of the day. She caught a 3.4-pound trout, but she wasn't entered in the derby. “I enter every year, but I don't catch anything, so I didn't enter,” she said. “I was out in the middle of the lake on a boat and cast my bait, and within 45 seconds I got a bite. The fish swallowed the hook and put up a big fight.”

“We appreciate the continued support of our wonderful sponsors and all the great companies that have donated so much over the years,” said event founder and chairman Gordon McHenry. “Without them, we couldn't put on a derby like this, and then I would have to disappear because I couldn't handle talking to and seeing the faces of all those terribly disappointed kids! I got an idea of what that would be like one year when the derby got rained out. Actually it was just a drizzle but the banks were muddy and slippery, and I had to postpone it---for the first and only time. You can't answer the phone very long at 5 a.m. on a wet and dreary derby day and hear little kids tearfully try to say, 'It's postponed?' before you have to pass on the answering duties to someone else. So once again I thank Mother Nature and all these great folks for their help:

“"Berkley/Pure Fishing, Turner's Outdoorsman, The Coleman Company, NorCross Marine Products, The Creek Company, Normark/Rapala, Trout Trap Lures, Okuma Fishing Tackle, Vanguard Escrow, Gene Larew Lures, Tim Tyson, Pete Vermeulen, Ron's Mobile Repair, Goodwin's Market, Preston Betts, Vineyard Bank, Irvine Lake, Out West Marketing, McDonald's, The Cedar Glen Trading Post, Ye Old Barber Shop, Just Like Grandma's, Lake Arrowhead Dive Service, Lake Drive Hardware, Richard Holmes, and Basic Trout Fishing Videos."

“Our special thanks to Superintendent Bart Ryder, the San Bernardino County Parks Department, Bob Sadler, Aaron Branum, and Judy, Gregg, Stephanie, Zach, Zeke and Eric McHenry for all their help.”

IRVINE LAKE

Irvine Lake adds Thursday night hours, catfish catches topped by whopping 31.9 pounder

A new night-time fishing opportunity is being added at Irvine Lake. The big news is that starting on Thursday night June 19, Irvine Lake will stay open for fishing until 11:00 PM. For the time being, night hours on Fridays and Saturdays will remain until 2:00 AM as usual. The lake will also be closed on Tuesdays for remainder of the summer season.

The big catfish at Irvine Lake served notice that they are waking up, and the lakes largest whiskerfish so far this year was actually caught 2 days before last Friday night’s big seasonal kickoff.

The 31.9 pound beast was caught by Rich Skills of Anaheim on shrimp at Santiago Flats, and was released to fight another day. Anglers who release a catfish over 20 pounds will receive a free pass to the lake, and those who manage to catch one over 50 pounds will also receive a free boat rental.

"Friday night was really very good, although Saturday was slower due to the heavy pressure" reported Jimmy Getty at the Pro Shop. "You name it and they were biting it; Catmando, mackerel, shrimp, DuMong’s, M&M combo and nightcrawlers were all working."

Getty tipped, "Some crappie anglers did extremely well using small jigs fished under the lights."

Legendary big catfish guide Ronson "Catmando" Smothers gave an awesome trophy catfish seminar on both Friday and Saturday evening, then headed out himself. "We fished Santiago Flats on Friday night", related Smothers. The water level is still pretty high, so the old spots were not producing. We found a spot in 32 feet of water where we caught 5 catfish up to 6 pounds on mackerel and shrimp with Catmando Original scent."

Smothers added, "The catfish bite will continue to heat up as the month goes on. Seems like it will be another great season as the water level begins to drop."

The start of night fishing also found phenomenally good crappie action. The trick is to put out a floating lantern, then wait for the minnows to be attracted to the light. Very quickly, the crappie will be attracted to the minnows. Best tempters for slabsides from 6 inches to 1.5 pounds were white Atomic Teasers or Atomic tubes with a mealworm trailer. Also working well were 2-inch Gulp! Minnows.

Not surprisingly, bass anglers also enjoyed the late hours, and some good largemouth action was seen on fish to 6 pounds. Rapala Skitter Walks and other topwater baits were productive, as were various plastics.

There is no limit on trout during the summer months, and trouters skilled in deepwater tactics were able to score some impressive stringers. Best bet was trolling with 3 to 5 colors of leadcore line trailed by a cop-car or frog-color Luhr Jensen Needlefish. Deep drifted Power Bait/nightcrawler combinations also caught trout from 2 to 4 pounds.

The Kids Lagoon was re-stocked, and families with children age 12 and under found good action on stocker-size catfish using the marshmallow/mealworm combination.

Anglers are reminded that catch and release is mandatory for catfish over 20 pounds and largemouth bass. Releasing fish is not permitted for any other species.

The Department of Fish and Game and Serrano Water District announced the formal discovery of adult Quagga mussels at Irvine Lake this week, following the detection of microscopic larva several weeks ago. Inspection of all private boats will continue in an attempt to block the additional introduction of the related Zebra mussels.

Outstanding catches of the week at Irvine Lake included:

Rich Skills of Anaheim, 31.9 pound blue catfish [released] on shrimp at the flats- Alex Benton of Long Beach, 13.06 pound channel catfish on mackerel at the flats- Varian Virgen of Anaheim, 6.0 pound channel catfish on shrimp near the docks- Ronson "Catmando" Smothers of Los Angeles, 6.0 pound channel catfish on Catmando at the flats- Philip Campbell of Chino, 5-catfish limit totaling 18.06 pounds on shrimp at the flats.

 For more info go to irvinelake.net

6-12-08

Santa Ana River Lakes

Catfish action kicks into high gear at Santa Ana River Lakes

There has been a very good catfish bite at Santa Ana River Lakes this past week. Lots of limits were reported, and while no monster catfish were caught, many fish in the three-pound range were showing. The lake will continue to receive catfish plants all summer long, so the catfish bite should stay very good.