Recommendations for Santa Fe Dam/Reservoir

[jruiz]

I'll ride my bike there tomorrow and give some of your suggestions a try.

[addicted2sp33d]

Thought I'd follow this up with a report... of absolutely nothing!

There was a 7-10mph breeze coming from the West, so there was a lot of surface chop. My friend and I hiked along the northern shore and the southern shore that wasn't blocked off by the Renaissance Fair. We tried drop shots, crank baits, worms, grubs, power bait, even some stinky anchovies. Nothing... not even any missing baits coming back.

I talked to everyone that I came across, and none reported success of any kind, not even Bluegills or Crappies.

There was a guy with a PA12/14 fishing around the island in the middle, but we didn't see him hook up on anything either.

As for the depth, some of the locals said it was up to 50 feet deep in some places, while others said the Reservoir is like a giant shallow rice bowl, with a maximum depth of about 10 feet. Based on how long the drop shots would take line after hitting the water, I would guess the latter. At least as far as we could cast from the shore, it was no more than 6-8 feet deep.

There was a decent flock of scuba chickens there. Watching them dive, I would guess the water was not that deep because they would come back up after about 5-10 seconds.

There are also rocks or something down there that snag a lot of drop shot weights and lead heads.

Boat rentals are absolutely ridiculous - $25.00 per hour rowboat.

For better or worse, it was a quiet day. At least I saved the $25.00 entry fee at the Renaissance Faire.

[guamboas]

Originally Posted by addicted2sp33d

Thought I'd follow this up with a report... of absolutely nothing!

There was a 7-10mph breeze coming from the West, so there was a lot of surface chop. My friend and I hiked along the northern shore and the southern shore that wasn't blocked off by the Renaissance Fair. We tried drop shots, crank baits, worms, grubs, power bait, even some stinky anchovies. Nothing... not even any missing baits coming back.

I talked to everyone that I came across, and none reported success of any kind, not even Bluegills or Crappies.

There was a guy with a PA12/14 fishing around the island in the middle, but we didn't see him hook up on anything either.

As for the depth, some of the locals said it was up to 50 feet deep in some places, while others said the Reservoir is like a giant shallow rice bowl, with a maximum depth of about 10 feet. Based on how long the drop shots would take line after hitting the water, I would guess the latter. At least as far as we could cast from the shore, it was no more than 6-8 feet deep.

There was a decent flock of scuba chickens there. Watching them dive, I would guess the water was not that deep because they would come back up after about 5-10 seconds.

There are also rocks or something down there that snag a lot of drop shot weights and lead heads.

Boat rentals are absolutely ridiculous - $25.00 per hour rowboat.

For better or worse, it was a quiet day. At least I saved the $25.00 entry fee at the Renaissance Faire.

Those arent rocks down there its probably a body.

[jruiz]

I fished from about 9-12pm on saturday following Charle's advice. Caught two small LMB about the size of my hand. Lost maybe three lures in the trees. Need to refine my flip casting. After losing the one that was catching me fish I left. I'll give it another go after after work today. I work down the street from the dam.

[addicted2sp33d]

Originally Posted by guamboas

Those arent rocks down there its probably a body.

I would not be surprised at all if I pulled up a body.

When I was using a crankbait, I pulled out a lot of rags, sandwich bags, and grocery bags.

I even pulled out one T-Shirt that looked like someone just took it off and threw it into the water! It was covered in mud, but it was an otherwise intact T-Shirt!

[tattuna]

Yeah, that place sucks! It was once a really productive lake with big fish. Still the biggest bass I've seen in person was in that lake. I know a guy who caught an 8 pounder there last year on a buzzbait of all things though. If I remember right the deepest part of that dump is 13 feet.

By the late 80's there were fish with lesions all over em swimming close to shore dying from fungal infections. They would shut the lake down for weeks at a time and treat it with all kinds of chemials.Turns out it was from excess fecal matter from people swimming and shitting in the lake.There was a death nearly every weekend there from people who would get drunk and go swimming then get their legs wrapped up in all the weeds and couldn't get free. I stopped fishing there around that time. The whole fungal thing was just nasty.

There's still fish in there, but not like there once was. I've fished it a few times since it's less thn a mile from me, but I haven't caught a decent bass there since 2001.