Sturgeon goes on rampage at Corona Lake, trout action hot
Travis Foster of Placentia wanted to have a relaxing day at Corona Lake and catch a few catfish. But an 80-pound class sturgeon ruined the solitude and chomped down on his mackerel bait, broke his fishing rod during the sustained and hectic battle, and caused the angler to lose his cell phone over the side of the boat.

Once he finally landed the prehistoric beast, Foster was more than happy to release it back into the lake so he didn't have to have anything more to do with it. He did catch three catfish, including a nice six-pounder, on J.D.'s Catfish Bait, a prepared mackerel bait.

While not quite as big as Foster's 80-pound sturgeon and not breaking any rods, David Tirado of Rancho Cucamonga, still had his hands full with a 24 1/4-pound carp he hooked and landed while fishing a nightcrawler from shore.

In spite of the oversize sturgeon and carp, trout continue to be the name of the game at Corona Lake. In fact, the biggest trout planted in Corona Lake since 2005 will go in this week when the small Riverside County water gets its first of two plants of 20-plus-pound rainbows from Mt. Lassen Trout Farms.

Some of these huge trout will be big enough to possibly break the Corona Lake record of 24 1/2 pounds or even the state record of 28-pounds, five-ounces. They will join a lake full of rainbows from both Mt. Lassen and Chalk Mound Trout Farm in Nebraska. The Nebraska Tailwalkers have earned a well-deserved reputation as the most beautiful and hardest-fighting rainbows of their size ever planted in the lake, and it was these fish that made up the bulk of the catch this past week.

The top rainbow was an eight-pound rainbow landed by Ariana Martinez, Moreno Valley, but Bob Carrier, Riverside, landed five trout to 5 1/2 pounds fishing small jigs from his float tube.

The best action has been for boat anglers fishing mid-lake waters, but shore anglers are also scoring near the dam and along the shorelines below the bait shop. Top baits have been chartreuse and orange Nitro Bait or nightcrawlers with Nitro Gravy.

Following the two special trophy trout weekends running from today through Sunday and April 2-5, there will be a special two-for-one event sponsored by Eagle Claw on Saturday, April 18. This is Angler Appreciation Day and with each purchase of a full-price lake admission, your wife or fishing buddy gets in free.

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 passes is $22. Seniors only pay $20, with a special $17 pass sold on Wednesdays. All of these passes have a five-fish limit. For kids 4 to 13, a three-fish pass is just $9. The once-monthly 24-hour passes remain just $60. These passes have a 15-fish limit. For Corona Lake fishing information, call 951-277-4489 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com