High Noon Irvine Beast...
 

Got a limit yesterday (2/9) of solid fish with the biggest going a little over 4lbs. Found most of them mid lake and they hit a little bit of everything. Solid strikes trolling, but only stuck one that way. Talked to a few who said that the early morning had been slow (I got there around 9am or so). Had a rare Monday off so I figured the same techniques and areas would work today. Sorta right, sorta wrong.

Again on the water by about 9am and headed towards mid lake where I'd seen them very active on Sunday. A few rolls here and there, but not the activity that I saw yesterday. Started the troll and after an hour or so got one near the bouy line. Another hour on the troll and nothing. Wind started to pick up a bit so I set up a drift and rigged up the mini jig. Took about ten mins and I had #2, both were average size but fought pretty well.

The magical High Noon hour was approaching, but I had to wazz so I began to paddle towards shore to find a biffy. Dropped the troll rod back first though. I had just turned into a cove when the rod begins to sing. Grabbed the rod and thought one thing: the weight was too heavy to be a fish.

Then the headshakes hit...holy donkey bastard, this aint the bottom.

Fish stayed deep, not moving much but not giving an inch...then took her first run. By this time, my kayak had swung back towards open water. All I could do was hold on, the drag screaming.

It is at this moment that I began to question knots, line, skill, manliness, reason for living, everything (Im sure you yellowtail/thresher/black seabass guys are shaking your heads and calling me a wuss right now, and you're probably not wrong. Big rainbow vs. 32lb La Jolla yellow...yea, pretty much the same).

Then, with another violent headshake, the run ceased. I was about 15mins into the fight now and I had not actually seen it. Finally about 30yds away the fish surfaced. Whoa, a dolphin.

Took two or three more runs of about 15 or 20yds before giving up. I laid the net out and Im pretty sure I heard the fish laugh. Head lopped over one side, tail off the other. Only one choice...The Mick "Mankind" Foley Mandible Claw from the old WWF days. This fish had one headshake left, but the fight was gone. Hoisted it in and realized it was bigger than I originally thought.

Went 13.9 on the scale.

Wow dude!
 

That is one beautiful fish! It is all relative my friend. WSB, BSB, YT, halibut, trout, salmon etc... A trophy is a trophy. And that fish is a trophy in which you should be proud! A job well done!

Janine:you_rock:

Man i thought i was hot shit with my 9 pounder...

Nice fish!

Holy Guacamole!!!!

That's sweet dude, good story and great fish!

That's a beast of a rainbow, nice job

One of the better fishing reports posted in a while.


Congrats on that pig!

:cheers1:

How long do they survive out of water?

Great fish. Trophy for sure. What did u fool her with?

Probably about a week or two ;) They plant thousands of pounds weekly.

BEAST!!!!! Looks like the fish had a case of the Mondays.....

What a trophy that's the biggest fri*^in trout I have ever seem. Thanks for sharing.

Agree X2

Thanks for a great write up. Gonna try my hand at Irvine tomorrow from the shore.

"Whoa, a dolphin." Haha funny story and nice fish.

Damn Brady that is a beast! Congrats on the fish. Great story. Glad to see the old Prowler still has the Mojo!

That is a pig for sure!!

Wow! did you bring your gaff with you:p.

Congrats.

Holy Crap! What lb test did you use. I usually fish 6lb for trout. Im not even sure I could of landed that thing on 6lb.
What a pig!

LOL
"No. No, man. $h*t, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man."
Lawrence from Office Space

Completely dead at irvine lake today been here since 6 1 fish

Dude that is a very good looking trout! Nice!

Appreciate the feedback and kind words. It was quite a day.
Still buzzing from it 24 hours later.
I had 6lb line on the reel with a 4lb flouro leader. The lures I troll at Irvine are whatever looks best in the box for the day. Flicker shads have actually become too popular there, but they still work. LC pointers are good, (but change the hooks) rapala countdowns, any minnow imitators are good at one time or another. One thing I would recommend is that if you see a lot of trollers (and on the weekends you will), troll something COMPLETELY random. Had a day there about a month ago where I found an old zebco lure (yes, zebco) that I've had going on 20years. Troll bite had been slow, probably because there were many trollers that day. Dropped this mini bait back and hit 3 in about 30mins. Crazy thing is I haven't even had a hit on it since that day. Good times anyway.

Yes DM, the mojo is strong with this one. Thanks for the sale bud.

Hell of a fish right there! Congrats...

Dude nice trout! Looks like i gotta try out irvine soon :D

Friggin huggeeeee... Nice!

Nice :cheers1:

NICE trout NICE trout:luxhello:

Great fish, great story telling :luxhello::luxhello::luxhello:

Awesome fish...well written 'report' and one worthy of being posted in a fishing reports category. Good job man!