The catfish bite has been excellent at Corona Lake this past week, especially for boat anglers fishing the deep-water edges of the flooded brush and trees. Most of the fish are running from 1  ? to three pounds, but there has been a steady parade of eight to 10-pound fish this past week.

John Smith, Norco, landed seven catfish with a 34-pound total stringer weight. His big fish were 11 and nine pounds, and all were caught on mackerel from mid-lake from a boat last Thursday. On Saturday, Smith returned to catch a 10 1/2-pounder at the dam, also on mackerel.

A 10-pound catfish was landed as part of a three-fish, 18-pound stringer posted by Melvin and Davieon Oles, Los Angeles, fishing mackerel in the tree line. Jerry and James Smith, Los Angeles, had catfish at 10 and five pounds, also fishing the tree line with mackerel. Alfred Medril, Riverside, landed a 9 3/4-pound catfish on nightcrawlers on the eastside of the lake.

A 10-fish, 31 1/2-pound catfish stringer was reported by Richard Trujillo, Victorville, fishing nightcrawlers at the dam, while Curtis and Doc Cassidy, Riverside, had five cats for 25 pounds on mackerel at the tree line.

The best action has been on mackerel, shrimp, nightcrawlers, and the marshmallow-meal worm combo, and dousing any of the baits with a scent or paste bait helps the action. There are twice-weekly plants of blue catfish and Silver King channel catfish, and tilapia are now included each week, too. The tilapia are really starting to show in better numbers for anglers fishing nightcrawler pieces around any structure. Fenzo Espinoza, Riverside, had nine tilapia to nearly two pounds.

Corona Lake is also hosting five Biggest Catfish Jackpots every weekend. Entry fee is $5 for any of the five permit time frames -- from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday, from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, from 5 to 11 p.m. Saturday evening, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, and from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday evening. (There will be no derbies for the mid-day special at noon or the 24-hour fishing pass holders. All of the derbies feature a 100 percent payout of the whole pot to the angler catching the biggest catfish. If 20 anglers enter at $5 each, the biggest catfish caught among those 20 anglers wins that angler the whole $100 pot.