A few huge catfish have come from Corona Lake this year, but the volume of fish from five to eight pounds has really increased over the past few weeks. This is both thanks to heavy plants of fish that include trophy blue cats each week, but also because of holdover fish simply getting bigger in the rich waters of Corona Lake.

The top fish this past week was a 14-pounder landed by Cayo Partiea, Washington, while fishing shrimp at the dam. An eight-pound cat topped off a 12-fish, 38-pound stringer reported by Isidoro Salgado, Hesperia, fishing J.D.'s mackerel, also at the dam. Ben Martinez, Rancho Cucamonga, landed a 7.5-pound cat on Hog Wild, and Tung Ngu, West Covina, landed a five pounder near the boat dock on J.D.'s mackerel.

Mike Nguyen, Perris, illustrates how good the fishing has been. He landed seven catfish for 26.5 pounds, including a 6.75-pounder, fly-lining chicken liver and mackerel in the trees at the back end of the lake fishing between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the afternoon.

Catfish plants go in at least twice a week, including both blue and channel catfish. Tilapia are also added once a week, and these panfish are showing in pretty fair numbers for anglers tossing nightcrawler pieces for them with many in the two-pound range.

Corona Lake is also hosting five Biggest Catfish Derbies 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.