Big Trout Derby Sat Dec 17 at Irvine Lake!

[etucker1959]

I have to admit I thought this website was stone cold dead this past year. (so I never wrote up any reports) Even though I had some fantastic fishing!!!! Not just, yea I got Lucky once or twice at a lake! But the lake would really produce week after week on some nice fish. Last summer it was Lake Wohlford on both Big Crappie and nice stocker catfish in big numbers! Then in Oct Irvine went off Big Time! Funny W.O.N. reported an odd catfish or two being caught ever week. But me and the only other professional Trophy catfishermen caught them every time we went! Not just 1 or 2 fish a trip but multiply fish day's most of the time.

I'm not going to give away all my best tricks. But I definitely want to help you guy's catch some more fish! I also want to see this website catch it's breath a little bit and in some way's breath some life back into Irvine lake. Irvine lake started off pretty good and then went to Heck when they lowered the lake level! A few people adjusted really well and then most people just gave up. It did get a funny following! (kinda of a cult following) I call them the cannon fodder group! Their not there when they open the lake up at 7:00 am. That's when I'm there with the Locals who can actually catch a fish. We all know each other by name! Lol (their is less then a dozen cars there at the opening time) But a funny thing happens throughout the morning. The lake slowly fills up with the cannon fodder group! They have no idea what their doing and 90% of them get skunked! That's who W.O.N. makes their fish reports on! Not people like myself or the other regulars! I can tell you story's about myself and the other regulars that are pretty impressive. I will for a minute because it's leading up to my point of this post. In Oct in my opinion, the best Crappie fishermen in the lake caught several nice Crappie 3 weeks in a row! (some of them were over 2 pounds) On one of those weeks in the same general area, "I saw a Bass angler land 12 Chunky Bass in 2 hours of fishing!" Me not wanting to feel left out caught an 12 pound, 6 pound and a 2 pound catfish all in the same general area. That week W.O.N. reported one or two odd catfish were caught! That's what the cannon fodder group caught not the locals! I'm telling you this because the God Father of Irvine lake knows what I'm saying is true, so he wants to spice things up a bit!

So on Saturday Dec 17 between 6:00 am to 1 pm their having their first trout derby open to everyone. You do need to sign up at Irvine lake before you leave the parking lot to be eligible for their many prizes!

How to fish like a Local and not a cannon fodder person! Lol

In my opinion Irvine lake is a bait and wait kinda lake. Yes on Friday opening day, I did see 2 Local Bass anglers throw Mini Jigs and they did really good. However, in a crowded tournament situation, that would be kinda tough to do! So in a tournament situation, we are going to concentrate on a good bait and wait set up! I'm going to pretend people have never been there before, so I'll cover everything to form a complete road map to success.

Once you arrive in the parking lot, go directly to the parking permit machines and buy your permit! ($5 per carload) You will need to know the license number of your car for the permit. Then go to the tables or booth and register for the Free derby. Line up at the gate for the 15 minute walk down the WEST SHORELINE ROAD! (it's the road on the left at the end of the old concrete boat ramp) How far do I need to walk down the West shore road to fish is what someone maybe wondering? They usually stock them right in the middle of the West shore road! So the big question is, where will they be on Derby Day? It depends on what day they stocked them! If they stocked them late Friday for example. Their going to be there right in the middle! If they stocked them on Wed, they could be all the way to the boat dock by then. I'll ask on Saturday if anybody knows when they stocked them. If nobody knows nothing, "I'm going in the middle or slightly to the right of the middle!" Now we have an idea where to go!

Rods and Reels

Use the Longest ultra light rod you own. (7 feet or better is best) You can usually cast farther with a longer rod, that's why I say that. Once the sun comes up for sure, the fish will move further out from the shore. So casting as far as you can is very important! 2-4 pound test is best! (I personally like #2) We are going with a bait and wait set up. So get yourselves some 1/4 ounce sliding egg sinkers. Put the weight on first and then tie a swivel. (it's called a Carolina Rig) Then make an 16 inch leader of 2 pound test. That's the perfect set up for that Lake. The hooks depends on the bait your using and we are going to go over that now. But before I forget, "WE ARE GOING TO DIP EVERY BAIT" in 'BITE ON GARLIC'! That's the smelly stuff they like best there!

The best Irvine Lake trout baits. (in order of preference)

1. Night Crawlers blown up. Use an #8 hook and just a piece of N/C and inject it with air.

2. Power worms is my favorite bait and my go to bait! If you see me getting bit, "that's what I'm fishing with!" They come in a variety of colors, but 90% of the time I'm fishing the color they call natural. (It's the color of a real worm) The next 3 colors in order of preference is Pink, White and Yellow. To fish these correctly you have to Wacky Rig them. Hook them right in the middle with a number 12 Mosquito hook. They only work right with a number 12 hook! Fish any other size hook and they won't float right and won't work at all.

3. Mice Tails. Favorite colors are Chartreuse with a red head, Orange body with a white head and Pink & white. Use a number #8 hook either Wacky Rigged or Nose hooked.

4. Power Bait. Yep, I think it's only the 4th best bait to use! Best colors are Yellow corn, Natural Garlic (it's a very light green color) and Chartreuse. Use a number 16 treble hook!

That's all the different kind of baits that I would use. But If you have to try something else be my guest. But everything I listed will work in their pretty good!

Good Luck and I hope you catch a lot and some bigger ones and win some great prizes! I think their also doing a blind bogey, where any fish can win a prize!