A 23-pound rainbow trout caught by Alan and Carole Wensman of Lakewood was the top fish landed during very good fishing action at Santa Ana River Lakes this past week. Besides the good trout bite and weekly plants, there has been a steady stream of catfish, sturgeon, and even crappie come through the tackle shop as we move into spring. The big rainbow was landed in Chris' Pond near the net on a nightcrawler-marshmallow combo, but nice catches of trout have been coming from the big lake and Chris' Pond on a wide variety of baits and lures. Small trout worms and jigs like Lip RipperZ have been very effective, but floating dough baits are still a staple. The "mouse" combos that feature a trout worm and a ball of floating bait fished together on a treble hook have also been very good. Son Lee, Stanton, had an eight-pound rainbow on chartreuse floating bait off the Sandy Beach. Richard Perez, Monterey Park, had a five-trout stringer that weighed eight pounds fishing a mouse combo at La Palma Point and his top rainbow was a six-pounder. David Hernandez and Ricky Campos, both Ontario, landed 15 rainbows for 26 pounds on the marshmallow-meal worm combo in Chris' Pond, and their top trout was a 3 1/2 pounder. Daniel Rincon, Fontana, landed four rainbows for an 8-2 total fishing Lip RipperZ jigs at the Bubble Hole in the big lake. His top rainbow was a 3-10. Top sturgeon landed this past week was a 17-pounder caught by Anthony Gomez, West Covina, on a meal worm off the sandy beach, while an 8 1/2-pounder was landed by Kenny Moore, Compton, on a nightcrawler off the road. The best catfish reported was a 7 1/2-pounder caught by Lee Aaron, Hawthorne, on a hunk of mackerel at Three Pipes. And the best crappie reported was a nice 1 1/2-pounder landed by John Aslanyan, Studio City, on a jig near the boat dock. SARL and its sister water Corona Lake will have special stocks in April of a some new, giant, full-finned trophy rainbows topping 12 pounds called Big Bad Reds. Keep an eye on the SARL/Corona web site -- www.fishinglakes.comn -- for more information on when these plants begin. 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 tentatively set for April 15-16. These 24-hour 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 Santa Ana River Lakes fishing information, call 714-632-7830 or log on at www.fishinglakes.com.