The trout fishing has "been off the hook" at Santa Ana River Lakes and the addition of Lightning Trout this week, including broodstock fish, should keep this bite sizzling. Anglers fishing even in the wind this past week were seeing a great number of limits. Fishing the last four days has been off the hook. The best action has been on green or orange dough baits or jigging a Power Mouse (with a green plastic worm and orange dough bait head combo). Elliott said that combo was especially good for the Nebraska Tailwalker rainbows planted last week and that limits of rainbow to four pounds were common. The big fish was an 8 1/2-pounder landed by Pete Cruz, Fullerton, to top off his five-fish, 17-pound stringer he landed on chartreuse dough bait at the Pump House. Keith Barron, Whittier, landed an 8 1/4-pound rainbow on garlic Power Bait at the Bubble Hole. David Mahood, Fullerton, landed a pretty typical five-fish stringer that weighed in at 12 pounds and had a 3-2 as his top rainbow, all caught on chartreuse floating bait in Chris' Pond. The huge load of Lightning Trout will include trophy broodstock fish from five to 10 pounds and perhaps even larger, along with thousands of pounds of scrappy one to three pounders. These trout are golden colored with a rich crimson stripe along their sides and gill plate, and they have bright, pink meat that makes them look like a salmon filet. They are SARL anglers' favorite trout to see, catch, and eat, and this is the first plant of them this season.

SARL and its sister water Corona Lake will have a large booth at this year's Fred Hall Show in Long Beach March 9-13. There will be free discount coupons given away from both lakes at this event for those who stop by the booth. There will also be a special announcement at this event. 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 pay only $20. All of these passes have a five-fish limit. For kids 4 to 13, a three-fish pass is just $9. There are 24-hour passes available the weekend nearest the full moon during trout season, with the next overnight fishing is set for President's Day weekend Feb. 18-20, with these passes available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night because of the Monday holiday. These passes cost $60 and anglers can bring a spouse and up to three kids to help fill the 24-hour pass 15-fish limit. Camping at SARL is also free with a 24-hour pass. For Corona Lake fishing information, call 714-632-7830 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.