A Variety of Lunkers Surface in Southland

Big fish popped up in three locations this past week--striped bass at Pyramid Lake, trout at Big Bear Lake and catfish at Lake Piru.

As the weather chills, locals seem to have Big Bear all to themselves and are taking rainbows up to eight pounds.

At Piru, marina manager Art Caldara reported catfish catches of 22 1/2 and 16 1/2 pounds, taken on red worms.

“I haven’t seen any that large in a long time,” Caldara said, “and I haven’t heard of ‘em hitting on red worms.”

Anglers using mostly homemade lures were hauling out stripers to 30 pounds at Pyramid, and Gary East of Shadow Hills equaled the lake record with a 12-pound largemouth bass.