ONE BIG QUEST FOR BIG BASS : BOOK CHRONICLES WORLD-RECORD BID.

Byline: Jim Matthews Special to the Daily News 6 Like many bass fishermen, outdoors writer Bart Crabb can be a little crazy about the sport. The lure of big bass has led Crabb all across the country, and when he heard the story of a Catholic nun catching a 30-pound largemouth from a Nicaraguan lake, Crabb said he ``was ready to join the priesthood and go down there, it was so enticing.''

Instead, Crabb has spent the last five years compiling stories and information about monster bucketmouths for his new book, ``The Quest for the World Record Bass'' (ProStar Publications), which is due to hit bookstores Nov. 20.

The 192-page book has been ``completed'' more than a dozen times in the last three years - but each time it was finished something else would happen that the West Los Angeles author said necessitated a rewrite or an addition.

``Things kept changing so darn fast it was unbelievable. First, the Texas state record fell, then Mississippi,'' he said. ``Then the A.C. Plug (a popular bass lure) thing took off like a house-a-fire. The A.C. has revolutionized bass fishing and disproved and proved a lot of things about bass fishing.''

The book examines the frenzy in searching for a largemouth that would top George Perry's 1932 record of 22-1/4 pounds caught in Georgia. Crabb charts how stocking programs of Florida-strain largemouths have revitalized the fisheries throughout the country and led to the toppling of state records. He contends that more bass of 12 pounds plus are being caught than ever before because of these Florida specimens, and his book documents the biggest of the big.

Crabb also offers extensive coverage of the A.C. Plug phenomena, noting how this monster lure designed by Allan Cole of Lancaster and manufactured by the Fred Arbogast Co. has caught more big bass in its short existence than all other bass lures combined, including an 18-pound 5.6-ounce largemouth landed last year out of Casitas Lake by Ventura angler Porter Hall.

The A.C. Plug has revived the concept that big fish eat big baits, Crabb maintains.

``Big fish like big meals, there's no doubt about that,'' he said. ``These big fish do not get that big or stay that big by swimming around a lake eating small meals.''

So, will anyone ever surpass Perry's record?

``I think we're eventually looking at a record of somewhere around 25 pounds. There are fish that big swimming around now, but most anglers don't have the ability to catch them. The big A.C. Plugs might change that, but I think, as you see more big, effective lures and more anglers using them, the record will fall.''

And where will it be caught?

Castaic Lake has a shot at producing the record, but Crabb likes some sleeper spots better, such as Kaweah and Success lakes, in the Western Sierra Nevada foothills, and San Diego County's Dixon Lake.

``But good gosh, don't write about Dixon before I get a chance to fish that lake. It's small, it has Florida bass, it gets planted heavily with trout - big bass chow - and it doesn't get many of the big bass fishermen on it,'' he said, laughing.

But then he changes the subject quickly and starts talking about Texas' big impoundments and Oklahoma lakes as sleepers, as well as waters in Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and Mexico.

And, of course, there's also the priesthood and Nicaragua.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO (color) CRABB