IRVINE lake

[landtuna]

I know that Irvine lake trout opener is about a month away. Planning on renting a boat and trolling, what are the best lures or techniques to catch trout or even steel heads. Do i fish deep or on surface. Any advice would be appreciated.

[hustlur]

Originally Posted by landtuna

I know that Irvine lake trout opener is about a month away. Planning on renting a boat and trolling, what are the best lures or techniques to catch trout or even steel heads. Do i fish deep or on surface. Any advice would be appreciated.

Opener on the troll may be tough, since the fish have not acclimated to their environment. You may be better off using jigs or bait, yet if your heart is set on trolling, here are a few tips.

Daiwa Shiners - Orange Metallic or Yellow Metallic Deep Divers - Troll them 50ft out flat line.

Mira Shads - Pink Clear or Blue Clear Deep Diver - Troll them 50ft out flat line.

Threaded Worm - Use about a 48" leader - Troll them about 2 colors with LC.

Kast Master - 1/8oz or 3/16oz - Troll them about 50ft out flat line. Make sure to use a swivel to avoid line twist.

Make sure to run your boat slow, yet steady. What I like to do with the rentals is to leave the engine at forward with the choke pulled out just to give you that speed you need. No need to gas it up.

The FLATS is a certain part of the lake where I like trolling with the Daiwa Shiners on about 25 feet of flat line, with the rod in my hand and working figure 8's with the boat. (Your figure 8 should cover about 100sqft.)

Make sure to also change the hooks on the Daiwa Shiners, since they do not hold after 1 or 2 fish.

Good luck out there and I'll see you at the opener.

Hustlur

[Rubberhook2]

I love trolling that place. I run flatlines with straight 4lb. I use their rental boats as well but pulling the choke out always causes the motor to stall on the boats I have rented. I always tell the attendent at the rental boat dock that I plan on trolling and they are usually nice enough to point you to certain boats and try the motors for you to make sure they have a really low idle speed. I just troll at idle with the boat in gear and always do well like that.

I fish solo alot so I bring two sections of 1 1/2 inch PVC cut to about 20 inches in length and attach with zipties to the stantions inside the boat located at the middle seat. These make great portable and removable rod holders that allow me to troll two lines without using my hands. Really cool to see the rod double over in the rod holders.

If the fish are near the surface feeding there will be signs. You will see fish jumping or swirls just under the surface. Another good sign are the birds of prey that feed on the trout...the Ospreys and more recently Bald Eagles. If the birds are working the surface of the lake the fish are visible and up high which lends itself to good trolling action.

Like anything else in fishing, if after an hour or two of trolling you are not getting steady bites it is time to try something different like fishing bait on the bottom. Sometimes it is just a matter of time of day meaning sometimes the morning can be slow but the afternoon goes crazy.

My two personal favorite trolling jigs are the fire tiger Rapala and the Mirroshads in either flourescent pink or orange.

Here a couple of pics of the lures, a 10 fish limit that my boy got trolling (yeah, I let him reel all of them in) and a 15.4lber that ate the fire tiger on the troll on January first of this year on 4lb line. It was my first bite of the new year which turned out to be a very good sign of things to come...

Hope that helps...

[birdman]

This is my kind of thread . Great advice given already . Look out for the new SC Shiner colors . Get those rods down flat off the sides of the boat ( Flat Line ) like Alex said . Keel sinkers from 3/8 on up to 1 ounce can be deployed to work different levels of the water column when trolling . Most of the season just straight tying a lure on 4 to 6 pound test gets er done , and is funner then screwing with weights and flashers and lead core , downriggers, e.t.c.... Although they all have their time and place .

I highly recommend a rubber net , so you can get back to fishing quickly . Not spending 30 minutes pulling treble hooks out of a net .

Bait fishing is usually better the first few weeks . Not all the time though . Last season had an epic troll bite going early on . The best I have ever fished . Could not get a second lure behind the boat , becasue the first one was already bit.

Rooster tails in bright colors work great at times on the troll , won me some cash back in the day up their . But like Alex said about the kastmasters , always use a swivel with the roostertails as well . Line twist on a fresh spool of 4 pound pline or maxima sucks .

4 weeks to go .

[hustlur]

Take everyone's advice here and print it.

His more tips.

If you like using Rapalas, look for the CD7 or CD9 Brook Trout Pattern. You'll get less fish, yet more quality sized fish. There's a lot of water in Irvine this year, and CD9's may be the ticket.

Hustlur

[Redneck75]

Kastmasters, Vibrax Spinners, Little Krocodile spoons...all work great. Hot Shots have always worked well on trout as well. Surprisingly though...my best ever hatchery trout catches have all come on the Rebel Bumble Bug lures...they're dumb looking and all...they just wiggle really frantically...for some reason they love those.

If all else fails...a set of lake trolls (spinner rigs) and a worm behind it will always get trout.

[birdman]

Originally Posted by Redneck75

Kastmasters, Vibrax Spinners, Little Krocodile spoons...all work great. Hot Shots have always worked well on trout as well. Surprisingly though...my best ever hatchery trout catches have all come on the Rebel Bumble Bug lures...they're dumb looking and all...they just wiggle really frantically...for some reason they love those.

If all else fails...a set of lake trolls (spinner rigs) and a worm behind it will always get trout.

Ha - That is great . I have been looking at my bumble bug for years , thinking , I should pull that . Never have . Gonna have to force myself .


More tips , I usually run a flat line on each side of the boat , and one down the center . The center line is either a deep diver run short , or a spinner / spoon , run way back . This eliminates tangles and covers different levels of the water column . When the fish are holding deep , I will run leadcore on the sides and a diving plug down the center .

Where you at One Leg ? We need the Master Flasher tips on this thread ! I think One Leg got a 10 pounder on a flasher and worm last season .

[big steve]

trolling is for guys that cant find fish! . looking foward to this season at the vine!
11/6/09 opener ill be there! oh just kidding on the trolling comment.pm me and ill give you birdmans secrets

[big steve]

jig jig jig jig jig jig, thats all!

[birdman]

Originally Posted by big steve

trolling is for guys that cant find fish! . looking foward to this season at the vine!
11/6/09 opener ill be there! oh just kidding on the trolling comment.pm me and ill give you birdmans secrets

Don't you mean my secrete . Douchepickle .

Fishing is for guys that can't troll . Huh? Nevermind .

[Rubberhook2]

Leaving tonight out of San Diego chasing those smallish yellowfin and dodo's and am bringing one of my Irvine Lake trout rods, rated 1 to 4lb loaded with 80 yards of 8lb mono. Should be interesting...

Good practice for the upcoming season....

[big steve]

Originally Posted by Rubberhook2

Leaving tonight out of San Diego chasing those smallish yellowfin and dodo's and am bringing one of my Irvine Lake trout rods, rated 1 to 4lb loaded with 80 yards of 8lb mono. Should be interesting...

Good practice for the upcoming season....

THAT WILL BE INTRESTING! you know whats going to happen right? your going to hook a 50# bigeye!