vineline
04-25-2013, 08:20 AM
April 20th WON Irvine Lake SCTO kicks out plenty of prizes and fish to nearly 500 participants
BY BRADLEY SCHWEIT
WON Staff Writer
SILVERADO — This past Saturday, April 20, Western Outdoor News and Irvine Lake hosted the fifth annual Southern California Trout Opener, and in addition to the always-plentiful divisional awards and raffle prizes on tap, this year’s event also turned out ample fish for the nearly 500 participants.
It was an absolutely picture-perfect day on the water, with cloudless skies, 80-degree temps and just enough wind to keep it from being what most would consider “hot.”
Anglers did indeed take advantage of the idyllic weather and participants hit the water in every imaginable craft, from float tubes to Sea Eagle pontoon boats, to kayaks and bass boats. The lake had risen quite a bit in the past few weeks (roughly 6 to 8 feet), so the west shore road, which is commonly out of the water for the SCTO, was inaccessible. That said, shore anglers were predominantly relegated to Boat Dock Cove and Trout Point. It didn’t seem to matter what you fished from or where you were, however, as most anglers made it to the weigh station with at least a fish or 2 to show for their efforts.
Most standard trout offerings produced well, with YUM TroutKrilla getting the nod as one of the better baits, followed by PowerBait in various colors and flavors, Mice Tails, nightcrawlers, trout worms and trolling lures such as Rapalas. The bait-soaking versus trolling split was about 50/50, as all techniques produced to some extent.
There weren’t any double-digit monsters weighed in as in years past, but trout in the 2- to 4-pound range were fairly common catches. The biggest fish of the event was a 7.78-pound rainbow landed by Tom Lambe of Oceanside, who caught the award-winning fish on a nightcrawler at the west shore. That trout was not only good for a hefty divisional prize package, but also a $400 mount from Global Fish Mounts and a trip for two to Alaska with RW’s Fishing & Big Eddy Resort.
In the Adult Female Division, it was Irvine regular and trout and catfish expert, Elaine Dickerhoof of Artesia, who took top honors with a rainbow trout tipping the scale at 5.25 pounds. On the Juniors’ side, 11-year-old CJ Walker took home the first-prize package for a 4.99-pound Yosemite Red caught on a Daiwa SC Shiner at the west shore.
Of course, as is the case with each and every Irvine Lake SCTO, there were plenty of other activities and prizes on tap for all participants… not only those who caught fish. The Okuma Casting Contest was on-hand, affording anglers the opportunity to test their casting ability and have an opportunity to win one of three Okuma rod and reel combos. There were also the blind bogey awards, which, based upon the number of entrants, doled out a total of $2,300 to 10 lucky anglers.
But the highlight of the afternoon was the raffling off of a Klamath boat/Mercury motor combo… and this year’s final grand prize raffle drawing was not without a bit of drama.
When Tournament Director Billy Egan read the numbers corresponding to the winning raffle ticket, three anglers approached the stage — a Junior angler and two of his older male counterparts. The reason all three anglers approached the stage was the younger angler had allegedly lost his raffle ticket, which, based upon the order in which the trio claimed to have registered, was the same number as that which Egan read aloud over the p.a.
After a few minutes of intense debate, it was decided that because the young man didn’t have the actual ticket with him, another would be plucked from the bin. (This is why we make every attempt to drive the point home before the event that you must hold on to your raffle ticket.)
At any rate, the next ticket pulled belonged to Ron Adams of Mission Viejo, who leapt to his feet and seemed so shocked by the whole occurrence I doubt if he realized he uttered the phrase “I won the boat!” a total of 754 times in the next 10 minutes…
In all seriousness, congratulations Ron, and all of the anglers who participated in the fifth annual installment of the Southern California Trout Opener. We look forward to seeing all of you back again at number six.
For a full rundown of the event and additional photos, be sure to check out next week’s issue of Western Outdoor News.
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i323/Irvine_Lake/INTHEADULTFEMALEDIVISION_zps14577c27.jpg (http://s1088.photobucket.com/user/Irvine_Lake/media/INTHEADULTFEMALEDIVISION_zps14577c27.jpg.html)
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i323/Irvine_Lake/ELEVEN-YEAR-OLDCJWALKER_zpsc01d8519.jpg (http://s1088.photobucket.com/user/Irvine_Lake/media/ELEVEN-YEAR-OLDCJWALKER_zpsc01d8519.jpg.html)
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i323/Irvine_Lake/TOMLAMBE_zps1ec2f14a.jpg (http://s1088.photobucket.com/user/Irvine_Lake/media/TOMLAMBE_zps1ec2f14a.jpg.html)
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BY BRADLEY SCHWEIT
WON Staff Writer
SILVERADO — This past Saturday, April 20, Western Outdoor News and Irvine Lake hosted the fifth annual Southern California Trout Opener, and in addition to the always-plentiful divisional awards and raffle prizes on tap, this year’s event also turned out ample fish for the nearly 500 participants.
It was an absolutely picture-perfect day on the water, with cloudless skies, 80-degree temps and just enough wind to keep it from being what most would consider “hot.”
Anglers did indeed take advantage of the idyllic weather and participants hit the water in every imaginable craft, from float tubes to Sea Eagle pontoon boats, to kayaks and bass boats. The lake had risen quite a bit in the past few weeks (roughly 6 to 8 feet), so the west shore road, which is commonly out of the water for the SCTO, was inaccessible. That said, shore anglers were predominantly relegated to Boat Dock Cove and Trout Point. It didn’t seem to matter what you fished from or where you were, however, as most anglers made it to the weigh station with at least a fish or 2 to show for their efforts.
Most standard trout offerings produced well, with YUM TroutKrilla getting the nod as one of the better baits, followed by PowerBait in various colors and flavors, Mice Tails, nightcrawlers, trout worms and trolling lures such as Rapalas. The bait-soaking versus trolling split was about 50/50, as all techniques produced to some extent.
There weren’t any double-digit monsters weighed in as in years past, but trout in the 2- to 4-pound range were fairly common catches. The biggest fish of the event was a 7.78-pound rainbow landed by Tom Lambe of Oceanside, who caught the award-winning fish on a nightcrawler at the west shore. That trout was not only good for a hefty divisional prize package, but also a $400 mount from Global Fish Mounts and a trip for two to Alaska with RW’s Fishing & Big Eddy Resort.
In the Adult Female Division, it was Irvine regular and trout and catfish expert, Elaine Dickerhoof of Artesia, who took top honors with a rainbow trout tipping the scale at 5.25 pounds. On the Juniors’ side, 11-year-old CJ Walker took home the first-prize package for a 4.99-pound Yosemite Red caught on a Daiwa SC Shiner at the west shore.
Of course, as is the case with each and every Irvine Lake SCTO, there were plenty of other activities and prizes on tap for all participants… not only those who caught fish. The Okuma Casting Contest was on-hand, affording anglers the opportunity to test their casting ability and have an opportunity to win one of three Okuma rod and reel combos. There were also the blind bogey awards, which, based upon the number of entrants, doled out a total of $2,300 to 10 lucky anglers.
But the highlight of the afternoon was the raffling off of a Klamath boat/Mercury motor combo… and this year’s final grand prize raffle drawing was not without a bit of drama.
When Tournament Director Billy Egan read the numbers corresponding to the winning raffle ticket, three anglers approached the stage — a Junior angler and two of his older male counterparts. The reason all three anglers approached the stage was the younger angler had allegedly lost his raffle ticket, which, based upon the order in which the trio claimed to have registered, was the same number as that which Egan read aloud over the p.a.
After a few minutes of intense debate, it was decided that because the young man didn’t have the actual ticket with him, another would be plucked from the bin. (This is why we make every attempt to drive the point home before the event that you must hold on to your raffle ticket.)
At any rate, the next ticket pulled belonged to Ron Adams of Mission Viejo, who leapt to his feet and seemed so shocked by the whole occurrence I doubt if he realized he uttered the phrase “I won the boat!” a total of 754 times in the next 10 minutes…
In all seriousness, congratulations Ron, and all of the anglers who participated in the fifth annual installment of the Southern California Trout Opener. We look forward to seeing all of you back again at number six.
For a full rundown of the event and additional photos, be sure to check out next week’s issue of Western Outdoor News.
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i323/Irvine_Lake/INTHEADULTFEMALEDIVISION_zps14577c27.jpg (http://s1088.photobucket.com/user/Irvine_Lake/media/INTHEADULTFEMALEDIVISION_zps14577c27.jpg.html)
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i323/Irvine_Lake/ELEVEN-YEAR-OLDCJWALKER_zpsc01d8519.jpg (http://s1088.photobucket.com/user/Irvine_Lake/media/ELEVEN-YEAR-OLDCJWALKER_zpsc01d8519.jpg.html)
http://i1088.photobucket.com/albums/i323/Irvine_Lake/TOMLAMBE_zps1ec2f14a.jpg (http://s1088.photobucket.com/user/Irvine_Lake/media/TOMLAMBE_zps1ec2f14a.jpg.html)
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