Pre-spawn and spawning, bass can be very aggressive or quite deliberate. But under either circumstance, a fast-moving crankbait zipped by their nose provokes a strike and is a very effective April lure anywhere in this part of the state.

Santa Fe Lake is unusual, one of the few natural lakes with deep structure in this part of the state.

That's especially true of the larger fish. At least one 12-pound Santa Fe largemouth fell victim to a high speed Trap in recent years.

All of the above areas and patterns are normally at their best before noon. But that doesn't mean you need to go home after lunch. This month can see some exceptional midday action, if anglers are willing to vacate the shoreline cover.

There are numerous brushpiles on the lake in 10 to 20 feet of water, and some fish move to them during midday. However, many more opt for areas of the equally abundant bottom grass -- especially in the six- to eight-foot depths lying right off of prime spawning sites. Bass tend to make the short move from the spawning areas to those places during the midday, and do so in concentrations. Find such a site and a midday limit of largemouths is quite possible.

How you find them is up to you, but there are a number of such spots along the west shoreline, in Bonnet Cove, along the lower half of the east shoreline and scattered throughout Little Santa Fe Lake.

One lake regular -- an elderly gentleman in a 16-foot skiff with a 15-horsepower motor -- does little more than troll a gold Bomber Long A along that six- to eight-foot break. When he gets a hit, he tosses a marker buoy, stops and works the area with plastic worms or a jerkbait. It's not uncommon for him to catch 15 to 20 fish in an afternoon.

If water is moving through the lake, another option is to fish the cut between the main lake and Little Santa Fe, the area around the mouth of the Santa Fe River at the northwest corner of Little Santa Fe Lake or, in the southwest corner of the big lake, the mouth of the Santa Fe Canal.

There's plenty of ways to catch bass on this lake, and April is a great month to try them all.

LAKE TALQUIN
At 8,500 acres, Lake Talquin is a significant body of water. But it fishes even bigger than that!

This man-made lake features a wealth of offshore structure and a massive shad population that lets bass live and feed in those deeper waters.