Nonetheless, finding a prime spot to throw can be challenging. Casitas can be clogged with swimbait anglers.

"Every one of the guys that's good at throwing swimbaits have three or four spots laid out and then they move," King says. "If you are the first one on it, you'll get the fish."

Casitas is mostly reserved by anglers fishing with the Castaic Soft Trout, Megabait Charlie and the Huddleston. However, finding the Huddleston can be as tough as catching a 20-pound bass. They don't mass-produce them and have problems keeping up with demand.

"They are still here," says Castaic Soft Trout pro staffer and Casitas legendary bass angler Ed Guyette, who has caught and released more than 500 bass greater than 10 pounds from Casitas. "We still have a world- record bass in this lake -- if not a few of them."

Guyette is one of many who believe several large fish will be caught this winter.

"We haven't had water until this year," he adds. "For the last few years, the big bass have had to go down deep to find structure to relate to. Now they have that near the surface, so we'll be able to target those fish again."

Guyette is one of many big bass chasers who fishes exclusively with swimbaits during the winter.

"If you want to catch a big fish you have to use a big bait," Guyette avers. "There's a lot of pressure on this lake, and the fish get pounded. But if you put in your time, you have a good chance at catching a fish over ten pounds."

Castaic Lagoon is the smallest of the list of big bass lakes, but it has the ability to yield the largest fish -- which it did in 2005 with a 19.26-pound monster that was caught and eaten. Fortunately, there are still dozens of hogs to go around.

CASTAIC LAGOON
It's no secret that many big bass born in Castaic Lake are brought by anglers to the Lagoon for photos and are then released in the Lagoon. In a sense some anglers -- illegally, we might add -- bring the big fish here to create their own little sanctuary of huge bass. On reaching their new home, the fish are greeted with a smorgasbord of food.

"They have excellent ecology there. It's top-of-the-line. They have bait, crappie, bluegill shad and trout, and the lake isn't pressured, per se. A lot of guys fish it, but they float tube it, and a few use bass boats," says Dave Keys of Castaic Landing. "There are no stripers. The largemouth bass is the top predator in the lake. They stock it with trout in the winter, and all these bass have to do is grab a few trout and they eat well. It's the perfect lake to grow big bass."

It's also fairly shallow and small. To feed, the bass don't have to work hard and expend lots of energy.

"There's a lot of grass that grows, so they have places to hang out, hide and ambush trout," Keys adds. "Try just going around the lake. If they are planting trout, they'll move on the trout. I've seen them busting trout in the middle of the lake. The trout are candy for them."

Time of day isn't a huge deal, but can make a difference.

"Historically, the first and last couple of hours might be the best," Keys says. "But I've seen big fish coming up there and feeding at noon."

The most important ingredient is patience. As with all swimbait fishing, you'll likely have to make a lot of casts to gain success here. The more time you put in, the better chance you have at a big one. But that first cast might be your lucky one, too.

DIAMOND VALLEY
Diamond Valley remains Southern California's newest lake, but it also offers one of the best opportunities for trophy bass. The majority of its big fish seldom weigh more than 10 pounds, but an impressive number of those caught weigh over 5 pounds.