Kid's Derby in Irvine. 11/14/2015
 

I saw a request for help with the kid’s fishing derby and decided to help out.

The event was at the Irvine Reginal Park Lake this past Saturday. I left home at 4:30 AM and arrived at the park little after opening, around 6:15 AM after a stop for breakfast. I saw some volunteers already getting loaner rods ready, so I joined in. It was cold, but it got warmer as the day progressed.

1-Volunteers are gathering to get started.
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2-Many park rangers keeping an eye on everyone. Mostly making sure that no adults are fishing for themselves.
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3-I was given the task of distributing bait to the participants.
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4-Emilio is the man in the center who is the head organizer of this event.
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5-Lots of anglers participated, but not as many as last year. I was told about 200 youngsters up to 16 years old attended last year.
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They had stocked the lake with 2,000 lbs. of Tail-walker trout. Many of the regulars to the lake know about this event and the stocking, and wait to fish afterwards.

At first there was a limit of two fish per anglers. However, since there were not as many anglers, it went to (3) and then five fish. There were even some tagged fish.


The derby was from 7:00 to 11:00 AM. All kids got some prizes too. Most caught fish as well.

6-Some kids with their catches.
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7-Another volunteer helped this young angler catch and land this fish.
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8-First catch of the life time for this family.
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9-The smaller the angler, the bigger the fish—I must say.
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10-A proud grandfather (yet tired) watches his grandson reel in the fish.
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11-There were some good catches. Not sure he caught them, since he kept asking for ideas on how to catch fish!
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12-The 11:00 AM came around, and then the adults were allowed to fish.
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One adult was banned for the entire day from fishing, when he was caught fishing a few “minutes” before the 11:00 AM.

After the derby was over and we cleaned up, I did some fishing. I did not catch anything in about two hrs. The water was warming up and the bite died.
I had to rush home to replace a bad battery in my wife’s car. She had to leave to help with my grandson.

I will have another report about the park and my two more days of fishing the lake.


The End.

That's good for the karma!!

I gotta say those are some pretty good looking stockers and especially for an urban lake!

My two boys and I went to fish this derby. We've never fished this lake before, so it was nice to check out a new place. We ended up catching 6 trout and released 3 trout in 1.5hrs. The overall quality of the stocked trout was impressive.

The volunteers were helpful, the event was very organized, and the kids were catching a lot of fish. What more could you ask for?Thanks for posting this event. It put some smiles on my boys' faces.

THANKS
 

THANKS MAHIGEER
Thanks for helping Emilio...he does a number of Kids events each year...some on his own like the Irvine event and a bunch with the L.A. Rod and Reel Club.
It's always great fun to see all the smiles on the kids faces and the proud look with their First Fish. Nice size stockers !
I really wanted to help out Emilio... but I had a death in the family and needed to attend to family business last weekend.
Jim / Saba Slayer

Thanks everyone.

Jim, sorry for your loss.

Way to go Hashem! You're a good dude, sir.