Santa Ana River Lakes is officially open for catfish season and those tasty cats are on the chew. Anglers that have been casting towards the deeper waters were having the most success this past week. Fresh shrimp, mackerel, night-crawlers & mealworm marshmallows have been the hot baits.

Santiago Palacios of West Covina landed 15 catfish totaling 42 pounds. Santiago's biggest catfish weighed in at 5 pounds using fresh shrimp at Toad Road. Mike Fry of Anaheim landed 5 catfish totaling 14 1/2 lbs. using mackerel soaked in Eagle Claw garlic gravy fishing by the bubble hole. Rick Sanchez of Tustin filled his limit of 5 fish with both catfish and tilapia. Rick's limit weighed in 9 lbs. 8 oz using night-crawlers by the boat dock. Eric & Belinda Haynes of Fullerton fished/camped overnight and ended up with 13 channel & blue catfish totaling 38 lbs. 4 oz. The Haynes family was using a mealworm & marshmallow combo fishing in Chris' Pond. Santa Ana River Lakes is open seven-days-a-week and has 24 hour overnight fishing/camping sessions every weekend during the summer. New lower prices check www.fishinglakes.com for price slashes on the Big Summer Friends & Family discount special. The more friends and family you bring fishing, the greater the combined savings will be.