The Vine - Opening day

Fred and I were gonna hit Santa Barbara Island for the Yellows and Seabass, but the bite was dying down so we switched it up and decided to hit Lake Irvine for the Trout Opener.

We showed up at 4am and ended up in row 6 for entry....Fred rigged up and I sawed some logs for a bit till we heard all the engines start up...

We rented a little boat and started trolling Thomas Bouyants...Gold Clown for me and a red and gold for Fred. Wasn't long before I get lit up....

Totally killer first fish...This thing was pissed off and made about 6 or 7 jumps completely out of the water for my morning delight! Got her to the boat, Fred was on the net and I was stoked with a solid 3 pound or better fish.





Off we went again and I get a few bumps but nothing that sticks...Fred's not getting bit so he swaps out to a rainbow pattern and gets a lick that sticks....



We trolled around the same area (Santiago Flats) for quite a while getting bit every 10 minutes or so...Very decent fish, drag rippers and quite a few arial displays. The Thomas Bouyants, and Rainbow Rapala CD-5 worked the best for us.

The day warmed up fast and the lake was flat greasy slick...The beanies and sweatshirts came off and we soaked up some sun as we finished up our limits.

Stringer was nearly full and Fred gets slammed by the big fish of the day, solid 4 pounds.

Bite was awesome in the morning but of course the warmer it got the slower it got. We soaked some bait for a little while, but got bored quick and took off trolling again.

Ended the day with a nice stringer and a full limit. Every fish we cleaned was full of eggs...We are not trout eaters, but we made a few close friends very happy with a fresh trout dinner.