A huge 20 ??-pound rainbow trout was caught by Tom Hayes, pictured of Carmichael while fishing at Santa Ana River Lakes this past week, highlighting a week filled with monster rainbows at this popular Orange County water.

Hayes' trout was caught from shore near the pumphouse on a nightcrawler-marshmallow combination doused with Eagle Claw garlic Gravy, but it was just one of a steady procession of big trout. Alex Ortega of Anaheim, had a pair of rainbows that weighed in at 18 and 15 pounds, both were landed on Lucky Cross lures at Levitz' Corner. Chuck Ashley, Anaheim, caught a 16 ??-pounder on green PowerBait near the boat dock, while rainbows at 16 ??-pounder were caught by Dick Bennett, Long Beach, and Dennis Johnson, Whittier. Bennett was fishing chartreuse garlic PowerBait and Johnson was using a chartreuse Power Worm.

There were two trout in the 15-pound class. The first was a 15 ??-pounder caught by Varion Virgen, Buena Park, on a smoke-colored mini jig at Levitz' Corner, while Mike Brown, Covina, used a nightcrawler off La Palma Point to land his 15-pounder. Jim Anderson, La Puente, landed trout at 13 ?? pounds and 10 pounds on chartreuse PowerBait, and Michael Najera, Walnut, was tossing a spoon off the sandy beach to catch a 13 ??-pound rainbow. Gary Janssen, Corona, caught a 10 ??-pounder on a yellow and orange trout worm, and Alex Martinez, Chino, landed a 10 ??-pounder on a gold Kastmaster. Steve Perreira, Buena Park, fished a nightcrawler at the Bubble Hole for his 10 pounder.

There will be a huge 50-50 Big Fish, Blind Bogey Tournament this Saturday. Entry fee is $20 (in addition to lake entrance) and there is a 100 percent payback of the entry fees divided equally into the big fish and blind bogey categories so everyone has a chance to win. The big fish pool will be divided among the three biggest trout landed, while there will be 10 blind bogey winners. Full details and rules are on The Lakes website at www.fishinglakes.com.

Trophy rainbow trout continue to be a major component of each Thursday plant, and anglers can view videos of the fish going in at The Lakes' website. In addition to the trophies, thousands of pounds of pan-sized trout averaging about a pound or better are also planted each week. These smaller rainbows are filling stringers. The bite has been wide open on any of the floating baits rolled in the new Hatchery Dust, which is finally available at The Lakes tackle shop and in fishing tackle stores throughout Southern California. The action is also good on small trout jigs and plastics.

For you catfish anglers, SARL also received a surprise series of catfish plants last week. Combined, the number of catfish planted surpassed what is normally planted for the catfish grand opener. The fish mostly went into the Catfish Lake, but these catfish also went into the big lake.

Santa Ana River Lakes is open seven-days-a-week. Fishing is 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. There are 24-hour passes offered on Friday and Saturday night on weekends nearest the full moon each month. The 24-hour passes cost $75 and have a 15 fish limit. An angler can bring his wife and up to three kids and all can help fill the 15-fish limit on one of these passes, and camping is free at SARL with a 24-hour pass.