A 17-7 rainbow in tournament was the best
fish of the week at Santa Ana River Lakes
Massive stocks of Lightning Trout and trophy rainbows led to excellent, limit-style fishing this past weekend at Santa Ana River Lakes and the trout are being caught all around the big lake and in Chris’ Pond.
The big fish portion of the weekend tournament was won by Daniel Gutierrez, Carson, with a 17-pound, seven-ounce rainbow landed on a Lip RipperZ jig while fishing at the bubble hole.
Other quality fish reported included a 12 1/2-pounder that topped off a seven-fish, 27-pound stringer caught by Ismael Zabala and Alfonso Andrade, both Los Angeles, fishing rainbow PowerBait at the three pipes. There was an 11 1/4-pounder that was part of a 10 fish, 23 3/4-pound stringer caught by Jesse Gutierrez, Downey, and Darrell Potts, Norwalk, fish garlic-flavored chartreuse PowerBait near the pump house. Potts had the bigger fish.
Most stringers reported over the past week have had four to six-pound kicker fish, and some anglers had two or three of those bigger fish as part of their catch. Rocky Valencia, Santa Ana, had five trout totaling 17 1/4 pounds, including one fish at five-pounds, two-ounces, all on chartreuse PowerBait along the south shore and near three pipes. Craig Joachim, Anaheim, also had a 5-2 topping off his 14-pound, two-ounce five-fishing stringer, but he was fishing nightcrawlers in Chris’ Pond. Sean Hart, San Dimas, landed five trout for 13 1/2 pounds, including yet another 5-2, fishing rainbow PowerBait at the Bubble Hole. Scott Nakata, Garden Grove, fished green PowerBait to catch rainbows at 7-3 and 5-2 in Chris Pond.
The top baits have been a variety of colors of PowerBait and other dough baits, and rolling the dough in Hatchery Dust has been enhancing the action. Power Mice Tails have also been a hot bait fished normally or wacky-rigged.
The hefty weekly plants of rainbows are continuing, and there will be 24-hour fishing this coming Friday and Saturday nights (April 26 and 27) during the full moon.
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.
Is the season’s best trout action
going on right now at Corona Lake?
Is the best trout bite of the season going on right now at Corona Lake?
There are a lot of anglers who would answer that question with an emphastic, “Yes!”
The huge plant of Lightning Trout and tons of four to 10-pound rainbows last week led to some of the best limit-style fishing of the year at this popular western Riverside County lake.
The 10-fish catch of rainbows and Lightning Trout made by Chad and son J.B. Geirlach, both Riverside, included the biggest rainbow reported this past week at 16 1/4-pounds, and one of the best Lightning Trout at 7 3/4-pounds. The 10-fish total stringer weighed 68 1/4 pounds, and the pair were fishing B-Line Jigs from a boat. While the pair’s average fish was nearly seven pounds, most stingers reported had at least one fish in that size class.
Other big fish included a 15 1/2-pound rainbow landed by Mauricio Calvario, Chino Hills, caught on a Power Mice Tail in orange and green at the dam. He also had a seven-pound rainbow on his stringer. Adrian Contreras, Riverside, had a four-fish, 25-pound stringer that included rainbows at 10, 7 1/2, and 6 3/4-pounds, all caught on white Power Worms.
Some more typical stringers included a stringer of trout that had six and seven-pound Lightning Trout landed by George Carpenter, Wildomar, fishing nightcrawlers near the boat dock. Richard Pustilnikov, Rancho Cucamonga, topped off his seven-fish, 23-pound stringer with a 7 1/2-pound Lightning Trout, while Jeff Chodkowski, Pomona, had six trout for 25 3/4-pounds, including a six-pound Lightning Trout, on Pee Wee jigs with Bite On scent. Dan Yovanovich, Newport Beach, caught four trout for a 12 1/2-pound total, including a seven-pound rainbow fishing green trout plastics at the dam. Robert Rodriguez, Whittier, landed four rainbows for 12 pounds, including a five-pound Lightning Trout, fishing nightcrawlers at the dam.
The best bite continues to be on floating dough baits rolled in the new Hatchery Dust, Power Mice Tails, small trout worms, small trout jigs, or inflated nightcrawlers. All are getting a lot of fish, but the warm weather is again pushing most of the fish out of the shallows into the cooler, deeper parts of the lake (with the early morning bite an exception).
There continue to be huge plants of trout each week, and there will be 24-hour fishing this Friday and Saturday (April 26 and 27) during this month’s full moon. That 24-hour fishing also should be of real interest to catfish anglers who are starting to see some very good action on the channels and blues if they bother to target the cats. Ron and Leish Maestas, Corona, fishing nightcrawlers and trout guts to landed five catfish to three pounds and the stringer was 11 1/4 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.