I had hopes and aspirations of fishing dana point today but the news media succeeded in its scare tactics and I had to look for something else to do. Since team sewer has scheduled their camping/fishing trip next weekend I thought why not pre-fish the lake. Its been more than ten years since I've attempted trout fishing and the techniques used today have changed quite a bit. I also remember my first and last trip to Irvine Lake probably 15-20 years ago was a very muddy, crowded, and miserable shore fishing experience. I'm told that there is a line before they open especially on weekends. So I opted to arrive and launch just after sunrise. I figured I would have plenty of time to fish and I wouldn't have to hassle with the early crowd. I'm used to people inspecting my watercraft(jetski, kayak, etc) at other lakes so when I asked the tackle shop when and where do I get inspected he just asked if I had a PFD. Apparently the lake is already infested with the mussels.
Forecast was cold morning and sunny during the day with winds picking up in the afternoon. My plan was to get out before the winds picked up. This is what today looked like. It was pleasant throughout the day and the winds didn't start to pick up until 1:00PM.
This was my first catch of the day.
This is what I went home with. There were pontoon boat full of people fishing and I saw a handful of them head for the landing before noon. Only thing I could think of was that the whole boat had limited. Bite was ok during the morning then slacked off after noon.
