They Have Bass Fever : Fishermen From Across the Country Are Flocking to Castaic Lake, Where Conditions Are Ripe for a World-Record Largemouth Catch

Will George and Henry have the last laugh?

Or will that go to any of the thousands hoping to cash in at the expense of the two fish, who for the time being are living the good life in Castaic Lake?

Actually, it doesn’t have to be George or Henry, so long as it is a largemouth bass weighing more than the world record 22 pounds 4 ounces. A record largemouth could mean the good life for the one catching it.

But George or Henry will do, or so says Don Iovino, who named the bass he says must weigh about 25 pounds apiece.

Iovino, 53, a five-time national bass champion and pioneer of specialized methods for fishing for largemouths, claims to have watched the two fish as they answered the dinner bell on Thursday nights, when the Department of Fish and Game truck would dump its weekly load of rainbow trout into the Los Angeles County reservoir.

“I’ve seen ‘em swoop on them,” Iovino said. “I’ve been in there a couple of times when the guard let me sit there and fish, and I’ve tried to catch them on Big Macs (trout-patterned lures). They won’t hit nothing. They’re too smart.”

They will have to be smart to survive the onslaught in progress at Castaic Lake, focal point of a fever that has gripped the bass fishing community. Anglers are coming to Los Angeles from all over the country, and they’re here for only one reason: to catch a world record bass.

“We’re not suffering intensely from the fever, per se,” said Geoff Hetrick, 36, a bass fisherman from Columbus, Ohio, who came with five of his friends to try their luck at Castaic. “We just enjoy getting out on the water and having an opportunity to go after some big bass. But the lure of Castaic is something that kind of captured all of us.”

The word is out. Castaic Lake, many predict, is going to produce the next all-tackle world record, one that has stood for 60 years. And if that record is going to fall, it is going to do so this month, while the fish are loaded with eggs and ready to spawn.

Consider what happened the last two years.

In March, 1990, Bob Crupi, a Castaic policeman, collared a 21-pound 1-ounce largemouth. In March, 1991, Mike Arujo of Santa Monica caught a 21-pound 12-ounce largemouth. Then Crupi followed just days later with a 22-pound 1-ounce fish.

That’s three ounces shy of the record, George Perry’s 1932 Georgia catch of a 22-pound 4-ounce fish.

Three ounces from all the money a fisherman could make off endorsements from the tackle companies, from the $1 million offered by Bassin’ magazine to the angler catching the record fish--provided he or she has joined the Big Bass World Championship tournament, at a cost of $15.

Well, it’s March again. And talk about madness!

“This is the month,” said Ron Cervenka, 38, a tournament fisherman who for the last 2 1/2 years has been a licensed guide at Castaic. “March is the absolute month. Rain or shine, I’ve got people that have come all the way across the country, and they want to catch a big fish and hope that it will be a world record.”

And those people are out in force. The V-shaped reservoir, half a dozen miles north of Magic Mountain off Interstate 5, has been transformed into a sort of watery Disneyland.

Sleek boats, capable of eye-watering speeds, are being pulled through town in the wee hours of the morning, as the fishermen hope to be first in line at the Castaic Lake Marina. By the time the gates open at 6:15 a.m., the line often stretches a couple of miles up Lake Hughes Road.

The Castaic Mini Mart, the hub of pre- and post-fishing activity, where guides such as Cervenka and partners Gary Parker and Pete Keiffer can be reached, has never been busier.

“We’ve been picking up quite a bit,” clerk Penny Harrison said.

Unlicensed guides are taking on customers who come to town without a boat, charging them plenty for what some of the licensed and more experienced guides say is a trip worth very little.

Cervenka, a tournament fisherman for the last six years, says things are getting out of hand. He and others familiar with the fishery are worried that it will not be able to sustain the pressure applied by the hundreds of fishermen on the lake each day.

Further, he says, most of those coming in from out of state are trophy-hunters who have left their catch-and-release philosophy behind. They are more than likely going to use live crawfish, a favorite food of largemouth bass. But because it is often swallowed it is difficult to release the fish without hurting them.

Tournament fishermen frown on the use of live bait, despite its effectiveness.

“As a guide on this lake, I’m terrified that 12- and 14- and 16-pounders are going to be leaving this lake,” Cervenka said. “People in Ohio--a big fish in Ohio is an eight-pounder--they’re going to bring a 12- or 14-pounder home.”

The largemouth bass in Castaic grow big for a variety of reasons, but the main ones are that the lake is stocked with trout every week and that every link in the food chain is healthy.

Indeed since Castaic Lake was formed as part of the State Water Project in 1971, it has grown into one of the world’s premier trophy bass fisheries.

“The main reason the fish grew so big is because it’s a stocked lake, and those fish eat trout,” Cervenka said. “But in the winter they move into deep water and follow the balls of shad. This lake has tremendous shad population.

“These fish never go hungry. That’s why they grow so rapidly. That’s why you can catch a fish that’s only 14-15 inches long but weighs over 2 1/2 or three pounds.”

A world record, should it come from Castaic, would not be a 28-inch fish, as some might expect, Cervenka said, but probably one 16-18 inches.

“It’s going to look like a basketball,” he said.

There is a growing concern, though, among those familiar with the fishery, that the basketball-shaped bass may flatten out in the years to come if bass fever continues.

Could Castaic be reaching its peak?

Iovino, who has guided more than 1,000 trips on Castaic and even has a point named after him, said he already is getting reports that the fishery is suffering.

“Some kid called into (his weekly radio) show the other day and told me he had seen a 10-pounder floating, and he wanted to know why it died,” Iovino said. “And I said it died probably because some bait fisherman caught him, and the fish swallowed the bait and he tried to pull the hook out. He took pictures and let him go and he died.

“The lake is getting poached silly.”

Iovino pointed out that nearby Lake Casitas suffered a similar fate after Raymond Easley caught a 21-pound 3-ounce largemouth from the Ventura County reservoir.

“After one fish, bait fishermen came in there and poached that lake clean,” Iovino said.

Casitas, which also suffered from California’s lingering drought, is only beginning to recover.

“And that’s what’s happening at Castaic right now,” Iovino continued. “It’s a joke out there.”

Not as far as George and Henry are concerned.