Lightning Trout and rainbows to 17 pounds
highlight Santa Ana River Lakes’ hot bite
Trophy rainbows, Lightning Trout, and 24-hour fishing combined to make it an excellent fishing weekend at Santa Ana River Lakes. Limits of trout averaging from one to two pounds were the norm, and most stringers had a Lightning Trout or three.
There was also the change of one of the huge super trophy rainbows that have been showing each week since the beginning of trout season. The top rainbow reported this week was a 17-pounder caught by Angel Contreras, Anaheim, while fishing green PowerBait at the Bubble Hole. 
Kory Allen, Garden Grove, landed his personal best-ever rainbow, a 16-pound, five-ounce rainbow on a green Lip RipperZ jig in Chris’ Pond. There were a pair of 15 1/2-pound rainbows caught. Ayaz Uddin, Anaheim Hills, was fishing chartreuse PowerBait with Hatchery Dust in Chris’ Pond to land his 15 1/2-pounder, while Alex Ortega Sr. and Alex Jr., both Anaheim, teamed up to land the other 15 1/2-pounder that was hooked on a Rapala. There were also two 14 1/4-pound trout caught, one by Ray Sell, Cerritos on rainbow PowerBait in Chris’ Pond, and the other by Bill Wright, Anaheim, on a chartreuse Power Mice Tail near the boat dock. Bonnie Henderson, Long Beach, landed a 10-pound rainbow on green PowerBait off La Palma Point.
The Lightning Trout were on most anglers’ stringers. Steve Zookwad, Baldwin Park, had five Lightning Trout fishing white Power Mice from his float tube near the boat docks. His total stringer weighed just under 10 pounds. Nicole Tremaine and Junior Rios, both Orange, had a 10-fish mixed stringer of rainbows and Lightning Trout that weighed 12 1/2-pounds with fish to 2 1/2 pounds, all on pink dough bait rolled in Hatchery Dust. Justine Chevalier and Alison Sharp, both Brea, caught their 10-fish, 14-pound mixed stringer of rainbows and Lightning Trout from a boat on orange plastics near the boat dock.
The trophy Sierra Bows from Mt. Lassen Trout Farms continue to be a component of each week’s plant. These trout are extremely popular with the anglers and have been running from 10 to nearly 20 pounds.
The trout are showing on a wide variety of baits and lures, but the most consistent action has continued to be on floating baits rolled in the new Hatchery Dust additive. Power Mice Tails or the home-made equivalents with plastic or nightcrawler tails are close seconds, and a lot of rainbows continue to show on small trout plastics and trout jigs. Bright colors continue to be the best bet with any of the baits or lures.
Santa Ana River Lakes is open seven-days-a-week. Fishing is allowed from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on day passes or from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on an evening pass. Each of these passes is $25. Seniors pay only $23 with a $20 special on Wednesdays. All of these passes have a five-fish limit. For kids 4 to 13, a three-fish pass is just $12. There are 24-hour passes offered on Friday and Saturday night on weekends nearest the full moon each month for $75. An angler can bring his or her spouse and three kids 17 years or younger on that $75 permit, and all can help catch the 15-fish limit. Camping at SARL is thrown in for free. For Santa Ana River Lakes fishing information, call 714-632-7830 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.
Huge Hatchery Dust Tournament
set for Saturday at Corona Lake,
trout action is simply off the hook
Amid an excellent trout season, Corona Lake will host the huge Lip RipperZ Hatchery Dust Takeover tournament this coming Saturday, March 2. This is a 50-50 tournament with a 100 percent payback of all entry fee money into two parts of the event. The first part of the event is a traditional big fish competition with payouts to the top four heaviest trout. The second part of the event is a blind bogey event with the 10 anglers catching trout weighing the same or closest to the 10 bling bogey weights will win.
Tournament entry fee is $20, in addition to the usual Corona Lake fishing fee. There is also $250 in added money if the top four trout are caught on any Lip RipperZ product, and the first 150 anglers who enter the event and buy a bottle of the new Hatchery Dust product at the tackle shop or have a receipt from the purchase of Dust at a local retailer will get a free Hatchery Dust t-shirt.
Complete information on the tournament is available at The Lakes web site at www.fishinglakes.com.
The tournament is being staged during some of the best trout action of the season at Corona Lake, and plants of Lightning Trout last week and bonus plants of trophy fish this week are staged to make this one of Southern California’s best fishing events of the year.
The big fish of the week was a 19 pounder caught by Frank Hernandez of La Puente using a black rooster tail from a float tube. Another big 15-pounder caught by Doug Whiting, Glendora, while fishing a yellow and green Nitro worm near the boat launch for his best-trout ever. A 14 1/2-pounder was caught by Jimmy Shelton, Orange, on a Thomas Buoyant in the back of the lake by the flooded trees, while Phoeuy Nguon, Moreno Valley, had a 13-pound rainbow on a jig off the shore near the boat dock. Todd Stevens along with Ross and Gerald Lawrence, all Corona, topped off a pair of 24-hour permits with a 13-pound rainbows fishing jigs at the dam. The 30-fish mixed stringer of rainbows and Lightning Trout weighed in at 50 pounds. There were also 12 1/2-pound rainbows reported by Ross Lawrence, Corona, on green PowerBait and Tim Haley, Las Vegas, on a jig from his float tube.
Overall, the bite has remained excellent with a lot of limits of one to two pound trout on floating dough baits rolled in Hatchery Dust, garlic-scented nightcrawlers, Power Mice and other small trout plastics, and small trout jigs. The best bite for shore anglers is still from the cove behind bait shop all the way to the dam. Boat and float tubes are getting most of their fish from the dam to the upper end of the lake along the main channel, with the area off the boats docks especially good this past week.
Corona Lake is open on a seven-days-a-week schedule. Fishing is allowed from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on day passes or from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on an evening pass. Each of these passes is $25. Seniors pay only $23, with a $20 special on Wednesdays. All of these passes have a five-fish limit. For kids 4 to 13, a three-fish pass is just $12. The 24-hour passes are only sold the weekend nearest the full moon. The 24-hour passes cost $75 and have a 15 fish limit. An angler can bring his wife and up to three kids 17 and under and all can help fill the 15-fish limit on one of these passes, and camping is free at Corona with a 24-hour pass. For Corona Lake fishing information, call 951-277-4489 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.