Michael Howard of Rowland Heights landed a 22-pound catfish from shore of JD's Point at Corona Lake this past Sunday and then promptly released the big fish to thrill another angler. He hooked the big fish fishing a hunk of mackerel.

Overall, the catfish action has remained very good at Corona Lake with many anglers posting nice stringers of fish, with many anchored by quality fish, and the best bite continues to come on fly-lined pieces of mackerel and shrimp with added scent. Early and late in the day or at night is the best time to fish, but there have also been some flurries of surprising mid-day action the past two weeks from deep-water spots.

Santiago Palacios (as usual) and Efran Gonzalez, both West Covina, had 20 cats that weighed 47 pounds total fishing mackerel from a boat. Carlos Carranza and Temo Lemus, Rialto, landed 17 channels for 36 pounds total, all on shrimp from a boat. Lina, Cindy, Nhung, Alex, Duy and Thomas Nguyen, all of Riverside, had six cats for 19 pounds, including a 7 3/4-pound, all caught from the dam shoreline on shrimp.

The catfish plants are each week on Tuesday and Friday, with trophy cats added each week, also on Fridays. The tilapia are also being stocked each week and some are real quality fish to 2 1/2 pounds and most are one to 1 1/2 pounds.

From now through Oct. 2, all anglers at Corona Lake and sister water Santa Ana River Lakes are competing to win a 12-day long-range fishing trip aboard the Royal Polaris out of San Diego. Whoever catches the biggest catfish by Oct. 2 wins the trip and the chance to catch giant yellowfin tuna to 200 pounds and more. The biggest cat wins. The weekly plants of brood stock fish will also become bigger and more plentiful at both waters, with fish from 15 to 30 pounds being planted over the next few weeks as part of the "Big Cats-Big Tuna" event.