Can anyone land the monster rainbows being planted in Santa Ana River Lakes and Corona Lake

Two days before Christmas, two of the largest rainbow trout ever seen in California were planted into the waters of Santa Ana River Lakes. These Mt. Lassen Trout Farms fish each weighed over 29 pounds.

Jim Davis, lake manager at SARL, said he was amazed when he watched them come down the stocking chute. He's seen a lot of trophy-sized rainbows, including the current lake record of 28.1-pounds caught back in 2005 by Mike Lopez of Paramount.

"These were bigger. A lot bigger," said Davis. "I'd bet one was 29 1/2 pounds and the other one was 31 pounds or more. And when they hit the water, they were gone."

They've been gone ever since. Oh, it's not that anglers are SARL aren't seeing or hooking the fish. One of them made its presence know the very next day on Christmas eve. Fishing in Chris' Pond the big trout rolled, giving everyone a good look, and then surged out to the middle of the pond, shearing the angler's light line.

In the middle of January, lake regular Jason Silva made a valiant effort to land one of the bruisers.

Silva was fishing La Palma point with a Thomas Buoyant lure dipped in White Lightning Nitro Grease when he hooked up with the huge trout. After 30 minutes of a long, give-and-take battle, the big trout was tiring and Silva worked it close enough to shore to get a good look at it. A crowd who had gathered to watch the battle also saw the size of the fish, and everyone confirmed it was one of the huge 30-pound class fish. But then the bruiser spit the hook and disappeared into the stained water.

Both record-setting rainbows had been spotted in Chris' Poind earlier, but at least one of them had swam back up through the pipe that feed water into the pond and was living in the big lake.

Since then there are stories every week of big fish being hooked and lost. It's landing one of the bruisers that has become problematic. SARL anglers learned long ago that finesse fishing techniques are generally required to hook the big trout, but there's a big difference between hooking and landing a 30-pound trout on two-pound test line. Now some anglers are even wondering if trout this size can be landed at all on this light tackle.

Trout over the 28-pound mark were planted last winter, too, and none of them were landed. Now there are two more of the huge fish in SARL, and since Christmas the big fish have snapped lines, almost at will.

Bryan Friedman, a top-notch big trout angler and maker of the Lip RipperZ line of trout plastics, jigs, and spoons, isn't sure it can happen.

"Honestly, I didn't think anyone would land the 27- and 28-pounders that were planted in 2005. Most of the people are using two- or four-pound test line - mostly two. It's like tying yourself to a train and trying to pull it uphill. The train is going to move you," said Friedman.

His biggest rainbow is a 16-pound fish, and he admits that he's hooked a few bigger fish, including one monster at SARL that simply ran across the lake and spooled him.

"I don't know, but I just don't think it will happen on two-pound test," said Friedman. "Maybe if you could hook one on six-pound test, you'd have a chance."

Not only are these trout big, but the big Mt. Lassen triploid trout have developed a reputation among regular anglers for their fighting ability.

"A lot of people think these huge triploids are big logs in the water and they're easy to catch, but that's not the case," said Craig Elliott, who runs the promotion and advertising program for The Lakes. Obviously.