record channel catfish landed at Miramar Lakes

Record channel catfish landed at Miramar Lakes: John Thomas baited a slab of sardine to try and fool one of Miramar Lake's big catfish, but he never dreamed he'd catch the biggest ever produced by the storied suburban fishery.

Thomas' 38.6-pound channel catfish established the new lake record at Miramar, a place known far and wide for producing giant bass back in the 1970s and 1980s. The size of the bass has dropped, but evidently, the catfish didn't get the memo. Sharon Smith, city lakes secretary, said she received the word Friday about the catch. Thomas had taken some cell phone photos, but lake staff followed up with some digital shots of their own.

Thomas said he was fishing from shore west of the courtesy dock when he hooked into the giant channel catfish. Only San Vicente, closed for the raising of the dam, has turned out a bigger channel catfish among the seven city lakes that maintain records. San Vicente's record is a 41.65-pounder.


Miramar is open daily to fishing and boating. There are no rental boats available, but there's plenty of shoreline and piers to fish from at the lake. Also, the perimeter road may be driven on Saturday through Tuesday. That allows anglers to get to the north side of the lake.

Thus far, the lake has been stocked with over 5,000 pounds of rainbow trout from the Chalk Mound Trout Ranch in Nebraska. Known as "Tailwalkers," these rainbow trout fight hard and are pink inside like salmon.

Posted in: fishing records