Anaheim Lake has been excellent for catfish over the past week and through the holiday weekend with most anglers fishing deeper water spots getting nice stringers of catfish averaging around two pounds. Mackereal and shrimp have been the most popular baits over the past week and most anglers are adding a prepared scent like Love Sauce, Bite On or Gravy to the baits. The marshmallow-meal worm (M&M) combo, nightcrawlers, and dough or paste baits are also working.

The key to getting a nice stringer of fish has been to fish in deep water where the catfish are congregating to avoid the lake's population of cormorants. Good spots continue to be the bubble hole and the hump directly between Catfish Island and Honker Island, most points, along the whole west side of the lake, and off Trout Island. Shore fishermen capable of making long rods capable of getting way out in deeper water are have just as good success as boat anglers.

Some typical catches from this week include a 10-fish, 21 1/2-pound stringer posted by Adam King and Giuseppe Ciarcio, both of Santa Ana, while fishing mackerel on the hump. Their big cat was a 3 1/4-pounder. Joe and Joseph Leyva and Matthew Perez, all San Dimas, landed 11 catfish to three pounds with a total stringer that weighed 23 pounds, and all were landed on the M&M combo fishing near the bridge. Julian and Sandra Casillas, Garden Grove, had the top catfish reported this week at four pounds and it topped off a 10 fish 20 3/4-pound stringer that included one nice tilapia. All their fish were caught on nightcrawlers at night off the east shoreline. Lake regular Jimmy Suchy, Anaheim, had a typical five-fish catch at 10 1/2 pounds landed on shrimp and his best fish was a three pounder.

The weekend Catfish Derbies continue to be held each Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 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 are 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.