The catfish bite was good to excellent this past week at Corona Lake for the official catfish opener, and the action can only get better with another huge plant of catfish going in this week for the July 4th weekend. In addition to the cats, there is fair to good fishing for bass, bluegill, and tilapia.

The catfish bite has been good on a variety of baits with mackerel doused with garlic Nitro Gravy, nightcrawelers with or without scent, and shrimp with Gravy all good bets. The best action for catfish has been in the south end of the lake in the flooded trees.

Stan Williams, Fontana, had the top catfish of the week, a 16-pounder landed on mackerel. Allen Lupoe, Compton, caught one at 10 pounds while fishing with chicken liver and mackerel in the flooded trees. Rick Clinedinst and Bret Taylor, both of Riverside, teamed up to catch a stringer of 30 catfish totaling 63 pounds on mackerel. Jeff Long, Riverside, caught five catfish totaling 18 pounds on mackerel fishing by the dam.

Some bass are showing for anglers targeting them with plastic worms, swimbaits, or topwater baits early and late in the day. The tilapia are starting to show in much better numbers, especially for anglers fishing the south end of the lake, and bluegill are showing up right along with the tilapia, mostly on nightcrawler pieces.

Catfish will be planted weekly all summer long. This season each plant will have trophy cats from eight to 15 pounds as part of the mix. The average cat will be in the two-pound range. In addition, carp and tilapia will be part of the loads at least every other week, and the lake has already been seeded with 1/2- to pound-sized tilapia. The tilapia planted this size last year, grew into the 2 1/2-pound range by late summer.

Corona Lake is open seven days a week with fishing 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 $20 passes has a five-fish limit. The popular 24-hour fishing passes are now offered every Friday and Saturday night. These passes have a 15-fish limit and cost $60. The family special, where mom and up to three kids 12 or under can help dad catch his limit, will apply on these all-night passes. For more Corona Lake fishing information, call (951) 277-4489 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.