After being delayed a day because of a stalled truck in the Sierra Nevada, The Anaheim Lake trout opener kicked off Friday morning after the first trout plants of the season for 2012. The plants consisted of a huge stocking of Mt. Lassen Trout Farms' Lightning Trout, scrappy Sierra Bows, and some big hook-jaw male rainbows to nearly 10 pounds. The season was set to kick off on Thursday last week, but the truck breakdown stalled things by a day as a new truck as dispatched with the fish and arrived on Friday morning. Almost immediately after the plant, anglers started landing some quality fish and some hefty stringers of trout averaging from one to two pounds.

The big fish was a 6 1/2-pound rainbow landed by David Rochim, pictured above from Fullerton, while fishing a chartreuse dough bait from a float tube. The top stringer was a 15-fish, three-angler limit that weighed 63 1/2 pounds posted by Josh and Lando Lacy, both Riverside, and Shon Roberts, Yorba Linda. All three were fishing Lip RipperZ spoons from a boat at the spillway, and the catch included Lightnings, Sierra Bows, and hook jaws. Joe and Irene Mandonca, Little Rock, had 15 rainbows for 41 total pounds on Lip RipperZ worms in white, also at the spillway. John Aslanyan, Studio City, had 15 rainbows for 23 1/2 pounds from his tube fishing pink and red trout plastics at the spillway. John Gosselin, Chris Roseli, and Sean Blanch, Burbank, landed 15 trout for 29 pounds on chartreuse dough bait and Lip RipperZ Ratz.

There were a lot of five-fish limits posted right around eight to 10 pounds, but Kory Allen, Garden Grove, managed five trout for 15 pounds, including a 3 3/4-pounder, fishing yellow and green Lip RipperZ jigs at the spillway. Dave Beaver, Anaheim, topped off his catch with a 4 1/2-pound rainbow on an orange Lip RipperZ, also at the spillway. The spillway was clearly the hot spot initially, but the fish have since spread all around much of the lake with good catches coming from the north shore and pumphouse shoreline, the bubble hole, and Trout Island. The top baits were the small trout plastics, trout jigs, and floating dough baits in a variety of colors. Trout season will continue at Anaheim Lake with huge weekly plants through the rest of November, at least. When Santa Ana River Lakes' maintenance is finished, it will reopen with a huge trout plants and Anaheim will close for the season. But all this isn't expected to happen until around the first of December.

In addition to the trout, the catfish bite has continued strong on fish averaging about two pounds. The best bite has been for boat anglers fishing the middle part of the lake around the islands in deeper water with cut baits and nightcrawlers.

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

Anaheim Lake will be 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 $25. Seniors pay only $23, with a $20 special on Wednesdays. All of these passes have a five-fish limit. For kids 4 to 13, a three-fish pass is just $12. The are 24-hour passes offered each month on the Friday and Saturday nights nearest the full moon during trout season. The 24-hour passes cost $75 and have a 15 fish limit. An angler can bring his wife and up to three kids 17 and under and all can help fill the 15-fish limit on one of these passes, and camping is free at Corona with a 24-hour pass.