Santa Ana River Lakes to host half-price admission, no limit trout fishing Sunday
The last trout plant of the season will go into Santa Ana River Lakes this week, and on Sunday (May 17) admission to the lake is half price and there is no limit on the trout.

"This is our way of saying 'thank-you' to all the trout anglers who've come to Santa Ana this season," said Doug Elliott, who co-owns the fishing concession with Bill Andrews. "Before long the water is going to be too warm for the trout to survive, and we want to send these fish home with our anglers while the bite is still good."

And the bite has been good. Limits of rainbows to eight pounds have been common over the past week, even though a lot of anglers are now fishing for catfish. Samantha Gray, Anaheim, had the top trout this week at eight pounds fishing yellow Nitro Bait at Three Pipes, while Logan Ariallina, Anaheim, landed a 6 1/2-pounder on a nightcrawler at the Bubble Hole. Enrique Estrada, Los Angeles, had five trout weighing 10 1/2 pounds total, and Maria Solis, Lancaster, had five that weighed 14 1/2 pounds. John and David West, both Duarte, caught eight trout to 4-12 and the whole stringer weighed 21 1/2 pounds.

With weekly catfish plants starting this week and the 24-hour Friday and Saturday night fishing passes being sold each week now through the summer, this also marks the beginning of the catfish season.

In the past week, top catfish was a 12 1/2-pounder caught by Jimmy Sushi, Anaheim, fishing shrimp at the Bubble Hole, while Rick Haney, Garden Grove, landed five catfish to 3-8 on shrimp with Gravy at Three Pipes. His five-fish stringer weighed in at 15 3/4 pounds.

Santa Ana River Lakes 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 24-hour passes are now sold every Friday and Saturday and remain just $60. Anglers can bring a spouse and up to three kids to help fill the 24-hour pass 15-fish limit. For Memorial Day weekend, there will also be 24-hour fishing Sunday night. For Santa Ana River Lakes fishing information, call 714-632-7830 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.