Fishing permit costs have been cut in half at Anaheim Lake for this final week of the trout season before the lake closes after this coming Sunday (Dec. 2). "Fishing prices haven't been this low in 20 years," said Craig Elliott at Anaheim Lake. "We're asking anglers to come out and help us catch out the trout and catfish before the lake closes for the season." Elliott said the lake received massive trout plants, including trophy fish to nearly 20 pounds for the Thanksgiving weekend, and the action has been excellent since then and most of the biggest fish have not been landed yet. The catfish bite has also been very good, but little tapped, after plants of channels and blues all summer and early fall.

The top trout reported over the holiday weekend were rainbows at 10 1/2 pounds landed by David Perez, Atwood, fishing chartreuse floating bait from shore, while Jakob Gunterman, pictured of Huntington Beach, landed his 10 1/2-pounder on a white Lip RipperZ jig fishing from a float tube. Tucker McCombs, Oxnard, landed a 10-pound Sierra Bow on a Kastmaster. Greg Schowen, Fontana, and Danny Fernandez, Carson, had five trout for a total of 32 pounds with the big fish on the stringer at eight and seven pounds. All were caught on Smokin' Jigs in white at the spillway. Kevin, Zane, and Steven Smith, all Harbor City, had 11 trout for a 20 1/4-pound stringer and their big fish was an eight-pounder landed by Kevin. All their trout were caught on Lip RipperZ.

Most of the trout were averaging around a pound to two pounds and stringers were common. Art and David Stone, Anaheim, had 10 trout for 13 1/2 pounds fishing green dough bait from shore, while Brandon and Tony Ontiveros, Oxnard, had five rainbows for 20 1/2 pounds. The spillway has been one of the most consistent spots for quality fish and limits, but there are trout showing around much of the lake, with the north shore, pumphouse shoreline, the bubble hole, and Trout Island also good bets. The top baits were the small trout plastics, trout jigs, and floating dough baits in a variety of colors. Anaheim Lake will close for the season after Sunday's fishing. 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.