On March 4, 1980, Ray Easley of Fullerton, California, turned to his two fishing buddies and teased, \u201cI\u2019ll bet there\u2019s a big one lying right over there.\u201d<\/p>\n
His joking prediction turned out to be one of the greatest understatements ever uttered by a largemouth bass fisherman.<\/p>\n
Easley, 38, a Fullerton fireman, was the first to pitch a live crawdad \u201cover there,\u201d to the right side of his marker buoy after he, John Pierson of Mission Viejo, and Leo Smallwood of Fullerton had made casts to the left side of the float. The trio was at Lake Casitas, in southern California\u2019s Ventura County, and it was about 4:30 in the afternoon.<\/p>\n
Easley was showing Pierson how to fish with live crawdads and, after making a cast, he let the bait settle to the bottom in 15 to 20 feet of water. A twitch along the line told Easley a bass had picked up the crawdad. As the belly started to move out of the line, Easley calmly explained to Pierson how a bass swallows such a bait as it swims off.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee that?\u201d he said to Pierson. \u201cHe\u2019s got it good now, and in a few more feet I\u2019ll set the hook.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a history-making fishing lesson.<\/p>\n
Easley drove the barb of the size 4 bait holder into the mouth of the biggest bass landed anywhere in the world in the past 48 years.<\/p>\n
His 21-pound, 3 1\/5-ounce Florida-strain largemouth set a new California record for the species, established a new Lake Casitas record, became the largest bass ever photographed (no photos exist of the world record bass) and fell only 1 pound, 4\/5 ounce short of the world\u2019s largest bass catch \u2014 22 pounds, 4 ounces \u2014 in 1932 at Montgomery Lake, Georgia, by George W. Perry.<\/p>\n
When the huge bass struck. Easley was using 8-pound-test Stren line, a Fenwick Lunker Stik rod and a Garcia 5500C baitcasting reel. He was fishing in the Deep Cat area of the lake where, a few weeks before, he had noted some brush sticking above the surface of the water. Because of a heavy runoff, the stickups were well under water when he caught his giant fish.<\/p>\n
![\"Ray](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/caistas_bass.jpg\")
Ray Easley has reason to grin. His fish happens to be the biggest largemouth bass caught since 1932. He hooked the 21-pound, 3 1\/5-ounce behemoth on March 4 in Lake Casitas. OL Archive\u00a0<\/p>\n
Measurements of the fish, taken by California Department of Fish and Game fishery biologist Ken Sasaki, were impressive: 27 5\/8-inch length, 25 \u00be-inch girth, and 26 \u00bc-inch from the tip of the nose to the fork of the tail. On a certified, digital-readout scale at the Corner Market, a mile and a half south of Lake Casitas, the fish weighed 21 pounds, 3 1\/5 ounces.<\/p>\n
What happens when an average fisherman, one of millions across the country, catches such a gargantuan bass?<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, March 4, few anglers outside Easley\u2019s circle of friends knew who he was. By Thursday, March 6, Easley was being interviewed and photographed; he was the celebrity (along with his fish) at the annual Western Fishing Tackle and Fishing Boat Show in Long Beach, California; he was the star of a radio talk show, the object of cash and merchandise offers by tackle firms, and his phone was ringing incessantly.<\/p>\n
Through it all, Easley, ingrained with a Southern gentleness during his childhood in Fayetteville, Arkansas, remained quiet, soft-spoken and unassuming.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than anything else,\u201d he says, considering his overnight rise to fame, \u201cI\u2019m just happy I caught the fish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Easley can thank the California Department of Fish and Game for making his celebrated catch possible. As part of an experiment to enhance the trophy bass potential of the 2500-acre lake, California DFG biologists in 1968 planted 200 Florida bass, taken from Upper Otay Reservoir in San Diego County, into Lake Casitas. Another 950 Florida bass from Lake Hodges in San Diego County were transported to Lake Casitas in 1970.<\/p>\n
Read Next: The Best Bass Lures: The Ultimate Guide to Every Type of Bass Bait<\/a><\/p>\n Larry Bottroff, a California DFG biologist in the San Diego area, collected the original group of Florida bass for the 1968 stocking.<\/p>\n \u201cThose 200 fish were actually stunted adult Floridas,\u201d Bottroff says. \u201cThey weighed from about 3\/4 pound to 2 1\/2 pounds and were 2 to 4 years old when stocked in Casitas. Unfortunately, they weren\u2019t fin-clipped (for later identification, as the Floridas stocked in Casitas in 1970 were) but you can be reasonably certain of identifying one of those 1968 fish when it\u2019s caught, by considering its size and the number of scales found along its lateral line.\u201d<\/p>\n Bottroff says a northern bass typically has 58 to 68 scales along its lateral line, and an average of about 63; a Florida bass usually has 66 to 77 lateral-line scales, and an average of about 70. While examining Easley\u2019s giant bass, biologist Sasaki counted 71 scales, indicating the 21 pound, 3 1\/5-ounce trophy was a Florida strain.<\/p>\n The 20-pound, 15-ounce former California record bass which Easley\u2019s catch surpassed had been estimated to be 12 years old when it was caught in 1973. Bottroff said Easley\u2019s fish was \u2014 probably 14 to 15 years old, considering the ages of the Floridas first planted in Casitas.<\/p>\n While the weight of Easley\u2019s fish made a dramatic impact on the nation\u2019s bass fishing fraternity, several circumstances surrounding his catch were nearly as unique as the bass he caught.<\/p>\n Easley had been fishing within 50 feet of the same spot on Feb. 28, 1979, with his cousin, Cliff Alderson of Fullerton (who has since moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas), when Alderson caught a lake record bass \u2014\u00a016 pounds, 14 ounces. Alderson\u2019s catch toppled a short-lived lake record of 15 pounds, 8 ounces, taken only three days earlier by Bob Cherepko of Yorba Linda. California. Alderson\u2019s lake record stood until Jan. 15 of this year, when Bill Beckum of South Gate, California, landed an 18-pound, 11-ounce giant in Casitas waters.<\/p>\n In all, five lake record bass (including one state record) have been caught at the prolific giant-bass factory in the past four years.<\/p>\n One of Easley\u2019s fishing buddies, Leo Smallwood, was in the same boat when both Alderson and Easley caught their huge bass. In fact, Smallwood netted both fish.<\/p>\n \u201cI was kidding Leo and said it must be depressing to be in the boat twice and see two giant fish landed, but not on his line,\u201d Easley joked. \u201cI was only fishing about 10 feet from Leo\u2019s line when I caught the 21-3 1\/5. I said, \u2018Now, I wonder why that big ol\u2019 bass picked up my crawdad?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Says Smallwood: \u201cI\u2019ve got to be the next one. If I get a record fish, I\u2019m not settling for anything less than a world record. And I want a better net before I catch mine.\u201d<\/p>\n When Smallwood netted Easley\u2019s monster bass, he had to scoop up the head of the fish, \u201cbecause you don\u2019t get all of a big fish like that inside a net.\u201d Smallwood says he used both hands to hold on to the rim of the net to keep the handle from bending.<\/p>\n The electronic scale at the Corner Market had been recertified by a Ventura County Department of Weights and Measures official only a few hours before Easley arrived there with the largest bass caught in nearly half a century. Game warden Richard E. Clack, who also examined Easley\u2019s bass, said the scales were recertified at about 2 p.m., and Easley\u2019s weigh-in took place about 6 p.m.<\/p>\n Easley had two witnesses in his boat, lake personnel saw the fish alive, several people witnessed the weighing at Corner Market, and two DFG men examined the catch. All this should eliminate the controversy that often develops after an ultra-large bass is caught in southern California.<\/p>\n Easley described the actual fight with his nearly world record bass this way:<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I set the hook I didn\u2019t know right away it was a big fish. I thought at first it might have been a catfish because it was sort of swimming right toward the boat, and then the line got heavier and I thought the fish had gotten into some brush. When it got close to the boat it turned away and started to really fight, taking line against the drag, before coming out of the water. \u201d Pierson, who moments before was receiving Easley\u2019s instructions about crawdad fishing, started to laugh.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t help myself,\u201d he says. \u201cWe had talked about catching a giant bass all the way up to the lake in Ray\u2019s motor home. We were talking about his cousin\u2019s big fish, and Ray said there was a bigger fish than that in Casitas and that a world record bass would come out of the lake. I thought it was funny, me getting a fishing lesson and Ray hooking that fish.\u201d<\/p>\n Easley\u2019s belief about a world record bass living in Ventura County \u2014 to the surprise of some who have noted the giant bass caught in the 1970s in San Diego County\u2019s bass lakes \u2014 isn\u2019t at all far-fetched.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe expect to see a world record bass here,\u201d says Randy King, manager of Casitas Boat Rental. \u201cWe\u2019re only 1 pound and 4\/5 ounce away now, and I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see it this year.\u201d<\/p>\n DFG biologist Sasaki notes: \u201cAfter having Florida bass for a dozen years, Casitas is now producing fish comparable to those in Lower Otay and San Vicente lakes in San Diego. It\u2019s quite logical, considering the sizes of the last two Lake Casitas records, that a world record bass is in there right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Some fishermen think a \u201cworld record\u201d bass has already been caught at Casitas, or, at least, a lean bass with a world-record frame. Bill Beckum\u2019s 18-pound, 11-ounce lake record, which stood just 49 days before being toppled by Easley\u2019s fish, had a length of 29\u215b inches, but a girth of only 25 inches, according to the Department of Fish and Game. Beckum\u2019s bass was 1\u00bd inches longer than Easley\u2019s, but was caught earlier in the spawning season.<\/p>\n Charley Detzel, general manager of Phenix Rods in Anaheim, California, and an avid Lake Casitas bass fisherman, says, \u201cIf Bill Beckum had caught his fish a month later, when the eggs were fully developed and the fish had grown more supporting tissue and taken on more body water, it would most probably have been a new world record.\u201d<\/p>\n Although he prefers to catch bass on artificial lures, Easley says a live crawdad is one of his favorite baits for trophy bass. He offers these tips for crawdad fishing:<\/p>\n Use a green-shell crawdad \u2014 not a red one \u2014 about 3\u00bd inches long, and if the crawdad doesn\u2019t kick and right itself immediately in the water, reel in and replace it.<\/p>\n Use a No. 4 hook pinned into the center of the fantail of the bait. (Long and short-shank hooks work equally well.)<\/p>\n When fishing in less than 20 feet of water, and when there\u2019s very little wind, don\u2019t use split shot on the line; if the water is deeper than 20 feet, or if a breeze is up. use barely enough split shot to keep the crawdad on the bottom. The split shot should be at least 36 inches up the line from the hook.<\/p>\n Cast, let the bait settle to the bottom, then crawl it slowly back toward the boat, twitching the rod tip.<\/p>\n After a strike, let the bass run a few feet before you set the hook. The running distance should be shortened when fishing next to heavy brush.<\/p>\n Prior to his history-making fish, a 9-pound, 2-ounce bass was Easley\u2019s largest catch. He\u2019s been fishing Lake Casitas for 15 years but has been bass fishing since he was 5 years old.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was a kid back in Fayetteville,\u201d he says, \u201cI used to put my feet in the back pockets of my dad\u2019s pants and hold on to his neck while he was wading the rivers there. He\u2019d hook the bass and I\u2019d bring some of them in \u2026<\/p>\n Lake Casitas lies about 78 miles north of Los Angeles and 12 miles north of Ventura. Facilities include two launch ramps, a marina, boat rentals, campgrounds, store-tackle shop and fish cleaning tables. The mail address is Lake Casitas, 11311 Santa Ana Road, Ventura, CA 93001 (805-649-2233). To reach the lake from the Los Angeles area, take U.S. Highway 101 through Ventura, turn north on Highway 33, continue to Highway 150, then turn left to the lake.<\/p>\n![\"Outdoor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ol_cover_1980.jpg\")
<\/a>The cover of the June 1980 issue of Outdoor Life, which contained this story. Browse our collection of cover art.<\/a> <\/p>\n