Trout season at Anaheim Lake will kick off on Thursday this week - the day the plants roll in from Mt. Lassen Trout Farms and Jess Ranch - and those plants will include those popular, golden-colored Lightning Trout, the scrappy Sierra Bows, the wild trout look-alike, and some big, hook-jawed males up to five pounds or better.

Trout season is opening at Anaheim because the maintenance at Santa Ana River Lakes is taking longer than normal this year and will not be completed until the end of November. The tentative reopening date and the kick off of the trout season at SARL is Dec. 1. The catfish bite has continued strong at Anaheim Lake on fish averaging about two pounds. The best bite has been for boat anglers fishing the middle part of the lake around the islands in deeper water.

Pete Campos, Elsinore, had seven catfish to four pounds and his stringer weighed in at 19 pounds, all caught on nightcrawlers from a boat off Honker Island. He returned another day and had five cats for 12 pounds. Pepper and Zarion Jackson, both Compton, had three cats for 6 1/2 pounds, while Nicolas Toomes, Lancaster, also had three cats weighing 6 1/2.

Private boats, kayaks, and float tubes are allowed at Anaheim Lake, but they will be inspected for traces of water or evidence of quagga mussel contamination before being allowed on the water.

Anaheim Lake will be open seven days a week with fishing allowed from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on day passes or from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on an evening pass. Each of these passes is $25. Seniors pay only $23, with a $20 special on Wednesdays. All of these passes have a five-fish limit. For kids 4 to 13, a three-fish pass is just $12. The are 24-hour passes offered each month on the Friday and Saturday nights nearest the full moon during trout season. The 24-hour passes cost $75 and have a 15 fish limit. An angler can bring his wife and up to three kids 17 and under and all can help fill the 15-fish limit on one of these passes, and camping is free at Corona with a 24-hour pass. For Anaheim Lake fishing information, call 714-996-3508.