The catfish bite has continued pretty fair at Anaheim Lake with twice-weekly plants assuring that most anglers go home with at least a couple of fish. Some anglers are getting hefty stringer of cats averaging about two pounds with a few bigger fish in the mix.

The best action has been on mackerel, shrimp, the marshmallow-meal worm (M&M) combination, the marshmallow-nightcrawler combo, or just plain nightcrawlers. Scents like Love Sauce or Eagle Claw Gravy increase the frequency of strikes. The catfish are showing all around the lake.

Anglers are having a lot of fun with the weekend Catfish Derbies. 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 10 anglers enter at $5 each, the biggest catfish caught among those 10 anglers wins that angler the whole $50 pot.

This past weekend, Geoff Rocks, Orange, one $90 with a mere 2 3/4-pound catfish, a fish he landed while fishing mackerel doused with Love Sauce. Carl Adamo and Sarah Legaspi, both San Pedro, had nine catfish for 19 1/2 pounds on mackerel fishing from a boat off the west shore. Robert Warner, Sherman Oaks, had six cats for 13 1/2 pounds.

Tilapia are also being planted each week, and the anglers targeting these panfish in shady areas of shallow water with nightcrawler pieces fished under a bobber are seeing a pretty good bite on fish averaging about a pound to 1 1/2 pounds.

Anaheim Lake continues to receive twice-weekly plants of catfish on Tuesday and Thursday through the rest of the summer fishing season, and tilapia are also planted at least one of those days.