Early April Irvine Lake

I was just at Irvine Lake over the weekend. I decided to arrive 30 mins after the opening to get some extra sleep. The bass bite was pretty decent around me. I manage to pull up 1 within 30 minutes of arriving there. I fished the lake for about 4 hours then decided to head home in the afternoon for some home made pizza.

During my time there I was still seeing others pull up some hold over trouts and some pan-fish. There was a decent amount of people but the crowd definitely died down a little since the trout stocking ended. It is still a good place to be for 5 bucks a car.


As a side note, does anybody have any tips or tricks for Lake Perris? I have never fished it but only have been there once or twice as a kid to go swimming. I am planning to go in 2 weeks with a former boss of my mine. We don't have a boat and mainly are going to be shore fishing.

Bernasconi side (Opposite side of the main entrance) of Lake Perris has been really good for bass, although from shore you'd have to walk along the rocks toward the dam, which can be tough. Also, beware of snakes, a buddy of mine saw a few when he went on Monday. But yeah, the bass bite on that side has been really good for me.

Perris is my "home lake" (if I had one), but I haven't been there in awhile. I like to fish different places rather than the same place all the time.

Anyway, Perris is usually good in the spring, but not consistently in my experience. I usually fish for panfish from shore, and the bite depends on various factors such as the weather, the water level, etc. If they are biting, there are lots of places to catch fish from shore at Perris, so you can move around to find better fishing if necessary. I have not been to Bernasconi in a long time, but I think going there would be a good idea now that the water level is back up. I used to catch a lot of fish from the rip rap just a little ways to the left of the parking lot. I remember catching a higher proportion of Redears there than elsewhere, for some reason. When the lake level was lowered, all of that rip rap was out of the water. A virtual forest grew where that side of the lake used to be, and now that "forest" is covered in water again, creating lots of good fish habitat.

Thanks for the info on Irvine Lake. Tough to get recent information on how the lakes are doing these days. Going to try to get there next weekend. Been a long, dry spell with no bass. I did try El Dorado yesterday (the big lake) and no luck. I am close to Mile Square, and went there on Friday, no luck (I think there are only turtles left in there as the locals just fish it all out).

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Originally Posted by BighornBob

Thanks for the info on Irvine Lake. Tough to get recent information on how the lakes are doing these days. Going to try to get there next weekend. Been a long, dry spell with no bass. I did try El Dorado yesterday (the big lake) and no luck. I am close to Mile Square, and went there on Friday, no luck (I think there are only turtles left in there as the locals just fish it all out).

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I fish the OC park lakes all the time. The further you go North the better the Bass fishing! The best Bass lake in OC is the one farthest North and their is also a real good city park lake in OC that has good Bass fishing. As far as Irvine Lake goes, you might try the 3rd lake in the East. Irvine lake is 3 lakes in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by etucker1959

I fish the OC park lakes all the time. The further you go North the better the Bass fishing! The best Bass lake in OC is the one farthest North and their is also a real good city park lake in OC that has good Bass fishing. As far as Irvine Lake goes, you might try the 3rd lake in the East. Irvine lake is 3 lakes in my opinion.

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I don't understand about Irvine Lake being 3 lakes. We both talking about the Irvine Lake on Santiago Canyon Rd.?

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Originally Posted by BighornBob

I don't understand about Irvine Lake being 3 lakes. We both talking about the Irvine Lake on Santiago Canyon Rd.?

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That's easy to explain. In doing required maintenance on the Dam, they had to drop the water level way low! So to the East in the old Santiago Flats area of the lake, their is still water there. But their is a several hundred yard area that is dry that separates that part of the lake from the main lake!

Thanks for the tips on Lake Perris everybody. We might end up trying the beach and 1 of the coves (Sail Cove). I'll give an update if we have any success.

A little update on Irvine Lake too. I was there this past Saturday (4/17) again. Ended up catching 3 bass (2 on keitech swimbaits and 1 on texas rigged senko) on the left side (West shore I believe) within 4 hours. I think I could have caught more but I was messing around and teaching some friends how to fish (3 of my friends ended up skunking but only 1 of them was a new fisherman). There was others still there catching left over trouts that were stocked from over a month ago and bluegills. Good luck if you go there @BigHornBob.

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Originally Posted by BighornBob

Thanks for the info on Irvine Lake. Tough to get recent information on how the lakes are doing these days. Going to try to get there next weekend. Been a long, dry spell with no bass. I did try El Dorado yesterday (the big lake) and no luck. I am close to Mile Square, and went there on Friday, no luck (I think there are only turtles left in there as the locals just fish it all out).

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I live about 15 minutes from mile square park. I have gone there at least 20+ times over the past year. I have not caught a single bass out of there yet... My friends have all caught 1 but me, but I do believe it is kinda fished out (or the fish are just really smart in there).. I talk to some of the fisherman there and they claim they are still catching bass there with their photos (but that was last year when I talked to them). Another guy I met a few weeks ago said the fishing has really slowed down there compared to back then. I think I have given up on the lake but I will occasionally show up every now and then since it is pretty close to me.

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Originally Posted by etucker1959

That's easy to explain. In doing required maintenance on the Dam, they had to drop the water level way low! So to the East in the old Santiago Flats area of the lake, their is still water there. But their is a several hundred yard area that is dry that separates that part of the lake from the main lake!

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Ahhhh.....I did not know that. And I didn't know why the lake was so low. Now I do. Thanks for the information!