Bernie Schultz scouts for speck schools below the surface with an Aqua Vu camera.

The specks begin to turn on after the first cool snap in November and stay on the prowl through most of February. However, for those used to chasing specks on shallower lakes, the deeper waters require some adjustment to tactics.

With the exception of an occasional rogue speck that pops a bass plug in shallow water, Santa Fe specks stay deep anytime they are not actually spawning. Over the last couple of seasons, after water levels had risen, the most productive depths have been from 19 to 25 feet. Within that depth range specks may be near the bottom, or suspended midway to the surface, but it has been rare (at least for me) to catch a decent-size speck from water shallower than 19 feet when they are not spawning.

That largely rules out the popular “spider technique” commonly used on lakes with a maximum depth of 10 to 12 feet. On these shallower lakes, a half-dozen canepoles arrayed around the boat can have baits set at different depths, covering the entire water column, and locate the depth fish are using. Twenty-five feet of water is pretty much out of the reach of any canepole I’m familiar with.

Three Launch Options Getting onto Lake Santa Fe is easy, whether you’re running a pontoon boat, a kayak, or anything in between. There are three public (no fee) ramps available. The one I normally use is at Santa Fe Park, on the south end of Lake Santa Fe. This is located just off of SR 26, about 1⁄2 mile west (toward Gainesville) of the Melrose traffic light at SR 26 and SR 21. It is well marked and hard to miss.   Work the entire water column to find the feeding zone. This is an excellent example of public funds going to good use. That ramp has two boat launching lanes, good parking for about 20 rigs, public restrooms and is adjacent to a large (and well-maintained) picnic area. It will handle a full-size pontoon boat. A deputy sheriff lives on the access road, making it a rather secure area. There is a ramp on the north end, on Little Lake Santa Fe, that takes a little more effort getting to. Located on 21B, this is best accessed by taking SR 21 toward Keystone Heights and turning onto SE 27th St. (next to the Chevron station) following that to 21B (turn right). Turn right again at the STOP/Dead End sign, and then watch for the yellow boat ramp sign. This ramp will also handle pontoon boats, but parking and facilities are more limited than at Santa Fe Park. If you just want to canoe or kayak your specks, use the special ramp in Melrose Bay. Head a few hundred yards toward Gainesville on SR 26 from the Melrose traffic light and turn right onto Trout St. to find the ramp about 300 yards away. It is limited to boats with 12 hp or smaller outboard motors, and no PWC. All of Melrose Bay is an idle zone, which makes it a good bet for paddle craft; and it hosts some pretty good specks in the deeper portions. —C.C.

My solution is an unorthodox but very effective rig that lets me cover both the bottom and the mid-depths with a couple of ultra-light spinning rods. I start with a small gold barrel swivel on the main line and tie on 24 inches of fluorocarbon leader in the 12-pound range. Another swivel goes on the end of that, then another 24 inches of leader, then one more swivel, then 12 inches of leader, and a 3⁄8-inch bell sinker on the end of that. If the day is particularly windy and the drift is fast I’ll use a 1⁄2-ounce sinker. That provides a staging line about the length of the rod.

The fish-catching end of things is a No. 4 gold wire Sproat hook tied onto 10 inches of fluorocarbon with a small, gold snap swivel on the other end. I can clip one of these onto each of the three staging line swivels and have baits spaced two feet apart over a 4-foot distance and far enough apart not to foul.

One rig is always dropped straight to the bottom and slipped into a rod holder. I’ve found the biggest specks are normally the deepest and that rod usually produces the largest fish. The second rig gets about 12 to 15 feet of line stripped out and goes into a holder on the other side of the boat. That two-rod spacing covers the bottom up to about five feet above and five feet of mid-depth water. That scours a lot of the water column, and normally finds specks fairly quickly. Once I start to pick up some fish and determine whether they are deep or suspended, I can adjust to keep all baits in the “good zone.” If I’m fishing by myself, two rods is about as much as I want to handle, but with an additional angler in the boat you can add another pair and virtually strain the entire water column.

The multiple hooks also give me the ability to see just what the specks want to eat that day. In colder weather I’ll slip a Missouri minnow onto one or two hooks on each rig, and add a 1 1⁄2-inch, soft-plastic tube or paddletail jig to the other. Specks like real meat when it is cold. In warmer weather plastic works just as well with less bother. With the sinker anchoring the end of the rig, jigheads on the baits aren’t needed or desired. Plain plastic on the hook will achieve the proper swim speed.

Specks can be pretty color conscious and may even change their color preference over the course of a day, but I have found that by alternating plastics in pearl white, white/chartreuse, pink or black/chartreuse, at least one of those colors will always work.

It’s a fairly low-tech system, but it normally finds specks. However, a recent trip with fellow FS contributor Bernie Schultz and his sons Daniel and Trevor, showed me that high-tech can sometimes find them faster.