The catfish bite has been good to excellent this past week with anglers posting a lot of nice stringers of cats, and the quality cats continue to show at the tackle shop scale.

The big fish this past week was a 23.25-pound catfish landed by Robert Provost, Rancho Cucamonga, while fishing mackerel. He also has a couple of 3.5-pound cats. Oscar Rodriguez, Los Angeles, landed three blue cats for a 25.5-pound total weight, including a 9.25-pounder. He made his catch fishing shrimp.

One of the top stringers was a 21-fish, 34.5-pound catch posted by Santiago and Trino Palacios, La Habra, on nightcrawlers. Carlos and Lup Mosqueda, Long Beach, had five cats to five pounds with a 17-pound total stringer on mackerel. Tom Farmer, Riverside, landed seven cats to four pounds and his stringer was also 17 pounds.

The best action has been on shrimp, mackerel, the marshmallow-meal worm (M&M) combo, and nightcrawlers. Many anglers are also adding Eagle Claw Gravy or Lip Ripperz Love Sauce scents, or similar scents and dip baits, to their other bait. Hot spots have been the deeper water off the dam, J.D.'s Point and the back end for boat anglers.

Catfish and tilapia plants go in at least twice a week, including both blue and channel catfish.

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.

Private boats, kayaks, and float tubes are allowed at Corona Lake, but they will be inspected for traces of water or evidence of quagga mussel contamination before being allowed on the water.

There is road construction going on at the Interstate 15 Indian Truck Trail off-ramp that leads to Corona Lake. This offramp is closed, but the lake is open during this construction. To detour around the construction, you need to exit from different off-ramps. If you are coming from the south on I-15, from the Elsinore or Murrieta area, exit on Lake Street and follow Temescal Canyon Road north to the lake entrance. If you are coming from the north, from the Corona or Riverside areas, exit the freeway at Temescal Canyon Road and follow the road south to the Lake entrance.