Trout action remains hot
at Santa Ana River Lakes
The trout action has continued to be excellent at Santa Ana River Lakes, and a bonus plant of Lightning Trout this past week made for a lot of happy anglers with full stringers of pink-meated fish. Trophy rainbows topping 10 pounds also continue to be a component of each week’s huge trout plants.
The big trout this past week was a 14-pound, four-ounce rainbow landed by William Rodriguez, Buena Park, fishing a Lip RipperZ jig on two-pound test in Chris’ Pond. Matthew Jiminez, Montebello, landed a 14-pounder, also on a Lip RipperZ in Chris’ Pond, while Valerie Rucks, Orange, had a 13-pound rainbow off the pumphouse shoreline on garlic PowerBait. Julio Hernandez, La Palma, caught a 12-pound, 10-ounce trout on a white trout worm near the boat dock. There were a trio of 12 1/2-pound rainbows caught. Henry Manzo Jr., Pico Rivera, caught his on chartreuse PowerBait in Chris’ Pond, while Hans Leer, Buena Park, landed his off the pumphouse shore on an Eagle Claw salmon egg. Nick Nguyen, Cypress, used a nightcrawler at the bubble hole to landed his 12 1/2-pounder.
The trout bite has been consistently good on a wide variety of baits and lures fished all around the big lake and Chris’ Pond, thanks to a new water distribution system that has helped spread the trout out around the facility this year. The top bait continues to be the new Hatchery Dust rolled onto the outside of just about any floating dough bait, but the Power Mice Tails, small trout plastics, and trout jigs (particularly Lip RipperZ, Smoking Jigs, and B-Line jigs) are close seconds to the dusted floating baits. Bright colors continue to be the best bet with any of the baits or lures.
The “Healing and Reeling Big Trout Tournament” will be held Saturday, April 6 at SARL. This is a special event designed to give back and honor the gallant men and women in the nation’s armed forces who have given so much to protect our country and our freedoms. Project Healing Waters is dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled military service personnel through fishing, education and outings. The Project focuses on rehabilitation of veterans by offering them the opportunity to hang out on the water with friends, have some great fun, and some fantastic fishing.
The buy in for the tournament is $20, in addition to the regular gate fee. Of the fee, $10 will be donated directly to Healing Waters and the other $10 will be placed in the Big Fish prize pool for the tournament. But there far more than just a shot at winning cash for a big fish. With over 50 major sponsors supporting the Healing Waters event, including including Shimano, Western Outdoor News, Davey’s Locker, Turners, Eagle Claw, John Deere, Panther Martin and many, many more, there have been thousands of dollars worth of prizes donated that will be given away to tournament participants in the after-event raffle. Each entrant gets one raffle ticket and more may be purchased. There will also be a silent auction of some prizes with all proceeds going to Healing Waters. More information on the tournament is available at The Lakes web site at www.fishinglakes.com.
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.
Giant rainbow trout at 17 1/4 and
16 pounds caught at Corona Lake
Corona Lake continues to crank out nice limits of rainbow trout averaging from one to two pounds, but good numbers of colorful Lightning Trout and some huge trout spiced up the bite this past week.
The biggest fish was a 17 1/4-pounder landed by Kenny Russell of Wildomar, while Keith Yamashita, Walnut, caught a 16-pounder fishing salmon roe from the dam shoreline.
With the 24-hour fishing this past Friday and Saturday, many families took advantage of the all-night pass and had nice 15-fish stringers. Denise and Gisselle Saucedo, Sante Fe Springs, had a nice mixed 15-fish stringer of rainbows and Lightning trout up to 4 1/2 pounds fishing dough bait rolled in Hatchery Dust at the dam from shore. Dave Halfacre, West Covina, landed five Lightning Trout on chartreuse PowerBait from the shore and his best fish was a 3 1/4-pounder.
Power Mice Tails and any of the floating dough baits rolled in the new Hatchery Dust additive have been the hot baits at Corona again this past week, with orange and chartreuse the hot colors. Small trout worms, small jigs, and inflated nightcrawlers are also good bets for getting a limit.
The warmer weather has driven the fish a little deeper most of the day. This means the boat and float tube anglers are getting limits from the dam to the upper end of the lake along the main channel and far shoreline in those deeper water spots. Shore anglers are seeing the best bite from cove behind bait shop all the way to the dam, and long casts have been necessary to get the baits into deeper water after the early morning flurry of action on shallower fish.
There are huge plants each week, and all stocks include trophy-quality rainbows topping 10 pounds.
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.