Santa Ana River Lakes get first load of rainbows over 10 pounds this week.
For the second week of its trout season kick-off extravaganza, Santa Ana River Lakes will be planted with "thousands and thousands of pounds" of Sierra Bows, including fish up to 20 pounds, according to Craig Elliott with The Lakes.

While the trout bite at Santa Ana River Lakes was just fair this past weekend after last week's huge plant of Nebraska Tailwalkers, the water temperatures have been falling steadily since Sunday and Elliott said that the action has been picking up daily. "With this week's plant, we expect the fishing to be off the hook at Santa Ana," said Elliott.

With this week's plants, there have been over 31,000 pounds of rainbows planted at Santa Ana River Lakes and its sister water Corona Lake. In spite of the high volume of fish in SARL, anglers have had to work to get a limit of fish, but anglers fishing early in the morning and at night have managed limits. The best news is that many of the fish caught over the weekend were from three to five pounds.

Dave Beaver, Anaheim, was fishing small jigs in Chris' Pond to land three rainbows for 11 1/2 pounds and his top trout was a 5-12 rainbow. Ed Kakes, Long Beach, caught a 4 1/2-pounder trout on a nightcrawler, while Jacko Smith, San Pedro, landed a four-pound trout on a Lip Ripperz. Juan Hernandez, Hesperia, also had a four-pounder on a Roostertail.

Besides the trout, the sturgeon have also started biting pretty well with the cooling water with a number of fish from three to six pounds reported, and one whopping 150-pounder caught and released by Jeff Bradley, Caron, on shrimp at the yellow pipe. The sturgeon are showing on floating trout baits, nightcrawlers, and shrimp. Anglers can keep two sturgeon smaller than 15 pounds, but bigger fish must be released.

The handful of anglers fishing for catfish this past week had very good fishing with limits pretty easy. Santiago Palacios, West Covina, landed five catfish that weighed a total of 13 1/2 pounds and his top fish was a five pounder. All were caught on shrimp. Ronnie Lu, Garden Grove, had five cats for 15 pounds and his best was a 5-4, and he was also fishing shrimp..

Elliott said that the staff at SARL is uploading photos daily to The Lakes website so anglers can keep tabs on the fishing and see the quality of the three new types of rainbows being planted this season. In addition, anglers who catch fish and report them to the tackle shop and have photos taken are eligible for a weekly drawing for a package worth $300, including lake passes, pontoon boat rentals, and fishing gear.

A reminder that private boats are no longer being allowed at Santa Ana River Lakes do to fears of invasive quagga mussels being introduced into the water system. This closure does not apply to SARL's sister water Corona Lake. 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 sold once a month on Friday and Saturday nights nearest the full moon. These passes remain just $60.. Anglers can bring a spouse and up to three kids to help fill the 24-hour pass 15-fish limit. For Santa Ana River Lakes fishing information, call 714-632-7830 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.