Outdoors : Anglers Get a Jump on Spring at Castaic

Bass season has yet to begin, but don’t tell anybody fishing Castaic Lake.

The Los Angeles County Reservoir has been yielding big largemouth bass with the regularity of bites during a spring spawn.

The lake has been producing for weeks, but most impressive is the 21.01-pound fish caught on Friday by Bob Crupi of Downey. The largemouth, 29-inches long with a 27-inch girth, is a lake record. Dan Kadota held the old mark with a 19.04-pound bass caught last year.

The state record is a 21.32-pound bass caught by Raymond Easley at Ventura County’s Lake Casitas in 1980.

Crupi caught his fish in about 32 feet of water in the upper lake, with a live crawfish on 12-pound-test line. But his wasn’t the only trophy-sized bass to come out of Castaic during the weekend.

A 16-pound 12-ounce bass was taken from the lower lake and two 16-pound bass from the upper Sunday. There might have been more if not for the cold weather.

“It was a terrible day,” said Jim Villaveces, an allergist from Ventura who caught one of the 16-pounders. “There was sleet, there was rain, there were black clouds, there was wind.”

Villaveces, 56, who had already landed a 3 1/2-pound bass, was trolling a blue Rapala lure when the larger fish virtually stopped his boat.

“It was like getting hit by a car,” he said of the force of the strike. “I would pull and nothing would happen.”

Wintertime fishing for rock cod has been interrupted by the showing of white sea bass off the back of Catalina Island.

Although recent poor weather has made access a problem, there is no reason to believe the powerful croakers have left the area, between Catalina Harbor and Little Harbor at a depth of 40 to 90 feet.

“The private boaters have been on them for a good month,” said Philip Friedman of the phone service that maintains communication with private and commercial boat owners.

The Shogun, a commercial sportfishing boat that runs out of L.A. Harbor Sportfishing, had a run-in with a large school of fish Friday morning while trying to catch squid for use as bait later at San Clemente Island.

Norm Kagawa skippered the boat to the area at about 4 a.m. and began making bait. Shortly thereafter, a passenger stumbled out of his bunk and onto the deck. He decided to throw a bait over the rail and got an immediate hit, soon landing a 12-pound white sea bass, then, quickly, another.

By the time the bite ended at about 9:30 a.m., the passengers had landed 42 fish, some weighing about 30 pounds.

“On Saturday, the weather kicked up and it got a little windy,” Kagawa said, adding that they managed five more fish. “We tried again Sunday but got turned around about halfway to Catalina. It was real rough.”

The weather has changed for the better, however, and Kagawa said he will be out again today.

The ordeal of the Trans-Antarctica Expedition team isn’t over yet. After completing their trek of nearly 4,000 miles in seven months and four days, team members are en route to Hobart, Tasmania, aboard the Russian research vessel Professor Zubov to launch a 2 1/2-month series of appearances around the world.

Government receptions are planned in each of the countries--the United States, Soviet Union, Britain, China, Japan and France--represented by the six members, as well as appearances to pay back sponsors.

Briefly

The largest mako shark ever taken on hook and line was boated off Hawaii’s Kona coast earlier this month by the North Pole’s Jodie Daniels aboard Glen Hodson’s Hustler, but the 1,207-pound shark won’t be allowed as a world record. Although Daniels battled the shark for the entire three hours, the rod and reel was brought to her in the chair by the boat’s deckhand, a violation of International Game Fish Assn. rules. The all-tackle record mako shark is a 1,080-pounder caught off Montauk, N.Y., in 1979.

Fishing instruction: By Ron Kovach, Eagle Claw Saltwater Fishing School, March 18 aboard the Prowler at San Diego’s Fisherman’s Landing. Fee is $125. Information: (714) 840-6555; Saltwater Seminar, March 19 and 21 from 7-10 p.m. at Fullerton College. Cost is $41. (714) 871-4030. Fly fishing, techniques and environmental awareness by instructor Lee Waian, March 22 through May 17 at Saddleback College. Information: (714) 582-4541.

Times staff writer Rich Roberts contributed to this story.