The Allure of Laguna Niguel Lake? Its Utah-Bred Rainbows, Naturally

After 300 casts with a dozen lures and finally giving in and soaking glob after glob of Power Bait, Shawn Arnold got his hooks into one of the beautiful Utah rainbows he had heard so much about.

It wasn’t much for size-- measuring about 14 inches and weighing about a pound and a half-- but it was the only taker after three hours of effort and therefore he considered it a prize.

So what did Arnold do? While holding the fish up in a pose for a photo, he flinched, the fish flipped from his hands and flopped back into the lake.

Lucky for Arnold, 40, of Huntington Beach, the trout landed on its belly and lay stunned long enough to be scooped up in a net and safely attached to the stringer.

It was that kind of day Wednesday at Laguna Niguel Lake, a 44-acre pond in the middle of Laguna Niguel Regional Park.

A little earlier, a group of fishermen capsized their boat, then clung to it for 15 minutes before help arrived. Not long after that, a large woman slid down a steep embankment and into the lake, sending a small tsunami to the opposite shore.

On a little lake like this, not much goes unnoticed.

Especially when a little lake like this is stocked every other week with 5,000 pounds of wild-looking rainbow trout that have hooked jaws, broad tails and delicious flesh.

Or so they say.

Take it from Arnold: Either get to the lake very early or wait for this mini-heat wave to pass before dropping a line. Otherwise all you’re likely to get is a little comic relief.

CARVING A NICHE

Laguna Niguel Lake has come a long way since Rick Mendoza was awarded the concession five years ago.

For 20 years it had just sort of been there, a pond with poor aeration and a few fish, designed to add aesthetic value to the surrounding community, which now boasts homes that cost millions.

The lake was put up for private bid five years ago and today, although it remains a secret spot of sorts for a few dozen regulars, is one of the unique and most productive trout fisheries in the Southland.

Most of the publicity has gone to other privately run reservoirs, such as nearby Irvine Lake, Santa Ana River Lakes and Corona Lake, all of which are stocked with enormous trout raised from genetically altered or steroid-injected eggs in a Northern California hatchery.

And these lakes are deserving of the attention they’re getting because many of the trout showing at the scales are topping 10 pounds, some of them pushing 20.

But what sets Laguna Niguel Lake apart is that its trout, although much smaller, with only a few coming in at 10 pounds or more, look a lot more like a trout should look and, pound for pound, put up a much better fight, because of their streamlined bodies and broad tails.

Or so Mendoza and the core-group of regulars say.

Unlike the trout being dumped in other lakes, those Mendoza buys from Pine Creek Trout Ranch in Bicknell, Utah--for $2.20 a pound--are raised in dirt channels instead of concrete pens and feed on natural food such as insects and grubs as well as processed pellets.

“People can’t walk without feet and fish can’t fight without tails,” Mendoza said, alluding to the comparatively smaller tails of fish going into the other lakes, perhaps because of their rubbing against the concrete. “Most people are used to those head-shakers, but these fish go airborne.”

I wouldn’t know, having casted for hours alongside Arnold to no avail, and watching him bring in one of only a few “dinkers” Mendoza says are stocked in his lake.

WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE

You get a little bit of everything while fishing at Laguna Niguel Lake: expensive homes to look at with envy, cars and trucks motoring toward the coast up on La Paz Road, joggers and pedestrian passersby and egrets and herons stalking fish in the shallows.

The wild lands of Utah it isn’t, but the lake is not without charm. Towering eucalyptus trees provide plenty of shade. Flocks of enormous geese are roaming about the grounds, standing eye to eye with small children.

A day-use permit costs $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $8 for kids 16 and younger. Boats with electric motors cost $20 for four-hour periods or $8 an hour. There is plenty of comfortable shoreline to fish from and the fishing is usually as good from shore.

Trout share the small reservoir with crappies and largemouth bass. Mendoza, also in the underwater construction business, has added structure to help transform the lake into an up-and-coming bass fishery, with a 13 1/2-pounder standing as the lake record.

But the bass bite doesn’t take off till spring. The Utah rainbows are in the spotlight now.

The trout truck--which resembles a large milk truck--usually arrives between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. carrying 5,000 pounds of fish averaging two to four pounds with some in the 10-pound class thrown in for good measure.

“That gives them time to acclimate and get used to their surroundings before we open the next morning,” Mendoza said.

Of course, acclimating is hard to do with wintertime temperatures in the mid- to upper 70s pushing water temperatures beyond what is comfortable for trout.

But Mendoza is used to fickle Mother Nature.

“I’ve been through two El Ninos, which killed our business,” he said. “Last year we had 52 inches of rain. It looked like the Colorado River with all the water and mud coming through here.”

What he means is, the heat is no big deal.

SHORT CASTS

* Showtime: The annual Southern California Outdoor Sports, RV and Travel Show is in progress through Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center. More than 400 exhibitors offering vacation ideas for everyone from fishermen to backpackers to whitewater rafters are on hand. Hours are 2-9 p.m. today, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Cost is $8 for adults, $3 for children 6-12 and free for those 5 and under.