COUNTYWIDE : 200 Boats Expected for Bass Tourney

Lake Casitas will be the site of a bass tournament June 22, with about 200 boats expected to participate in the annual event sponsored by the American Bass Assn.

The tournament will begin at 6 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. A barbecue is also planned for the afternoon, as well as a seminar on the art of bass fishing, ABA spokesman Dave Plotnick said.

During the tournament, the association will stock the lake with 6,000 3- to 4-inch pure Florida strain largemouth bass, which are bred for their growth rate.

As the newly stocked bass spawn with the native Lake Casitas bass, their faster growth rates will result in improved fishing. Plotnick said the bass stocked during the tournament will spawn next year.

The ABA Plant-A-Bass program, the only private bass-stocking program in Southern California, stocked 5,700 bass in the lake in 1990.

As a result of the 1968 stock, the lake produced the California state record in 1980, with a bass weighing 21 pounds, 3 ounces.

That was the second-largest largemouth bass ever recorded.

Registration will begin at 3 p.m. June 21, and 5 a.m. the day of the tournament. For further information, call ABA at (213) 376-1026.