Lake Santa Fe

Bluegill and redear can be found around docks and cypress trees scattered around the lake. Target those fish using crickets, earthworms, and grass shrimp. Small artificial jigs and lures will also take aggressive panfish. If you are targeting black crappie, focus your efforts offshore, either in deep open water or around any submerged structure, including marked fish attractors. Good catches of crappie were reported from deep water areas in both Lake Santa Fe and Little Lake Santa Fe this past spring. Troll or drift crappie jigs or minnows and try to cover as much water as possible. Pay attention to water depth, lure depth, lure color and boat speed if you start to catch fish. Use this information to try to pattern these fish on a given day. Experiment with different combinations of speed, lure color, and lure depth to find what the fish want. Anglers can find scattered largemouth bass in near-shore maidencane beds, under docks, and around cypress trees. Soft plastics either flipped, pitched, or dragged near structure should draw strikes. Don’t be afraid to look away from the shoreline when targeting bass also. Bass can be targeted offshore using minnow-imitating plugs or even jigging spoons in deeper water. As with Lake Sampson, keep an eye open for roving schools of feeding sunshine bass offshore. Look for birds diving or surface commotion to find these feeding fish. Approach these feeding schools with stealth, and you should be able to catch multiple fish before the action stops. Effective lures include anything shiny, white, or minnow-shaped. Be prepared for either schooling largemouth bass or sunshine bass, as they can both display the same feeding behavior offshore. Anglers looking to beat the summer heat should focus their efforts on mornings, evenings, or even during the night. Summertime anglers looking to avoid the pleasure boating crowds should focus their efforts during weekdays, early mornings, late afternoons, or even at night.