The "South Shore Weedbed" -- just where its name would lead you to expect it -- is a longtime favorite location of many pike anglers. Floating stick baits such as Rapalas and Rebels will be pounced on here, and jigs tossed into the weeds will stir up action, too.

Other good pike haunts on the lake include the edge of the weedbed on the east edge of North Bay, along with the several weedbeds in East Bay. Wherever you fish on Houghton Lake, you can't go wrong working the deep side of any weedbed -- emergent or submergent -- you can find.

There's a public access site on each of the four shorelines, and bait shops, restaurants, motels and resorts just about everywhere you go. Get more information from the Houghton Lake Area Tourism Bureau at 1-800-676-5330, or go to the bureau's Web site at < ahref="http://www.visithoughtonlake.com/" target="_blank">VisitHoughtonLake.com.

HIGGINS LAKE
Tell people you're pike fishing on Higgins Lake and they'll tell you you're one lake too far to the north. Although they're connected neighbors, Higgins and Houghton lakes couldn't be much more different.

Houghton is shallow, warm and fertile. By comparison, Higgins is deep, cold and sterile. Houghton is a walleye lake, Higgins a trout hotspot. But Higgins, like Houghton, has northern pike, and it has some big ones.

The state's largest pike of 2005 in the caught-and-kept category was a Higgins fish, a 26-pounder that stretched 44 inches long. That person, David Stewart of Roscommon, put a second Master Angler Award pike from Higgins Lake on the list, too. And even though both of his pike ran into a winter spear, there's no reason you couldn't be just as lucky in the open water.

Thank the abundant food base -- especially smelt, whitefish and small trout -- for the hefty pike that come from Higgins. Maybe you should thank, too, the fact that few people target the toothy critters in open water.

This is not a lake with a lot of cover, so the pike have few ambush points. They do haunt weedbeds, though, including the relatively short ones along the steep dropoff from 10 feet to 25 feet that rings the lake. One of my biggest pike ever slammed a spoon I was jigging at the dropoff for perch at the north end of the lake. Hanging a live sucker or other tasty offering -- and make it big -- is a good bet, too. People will think you're on the wrong lake if you tell them what you're doing -- but a trophy northern just might tell you otherwise!

Access is easy at North and South Higgins Lake State Parks, and at a Department of Natural Resources public access site in the northwest corner. A State Park Motor Vehicle sticker is always required at the parks. In tourist season, a daily or seasonal fee is charged at the access site, too.

The Houghton Lake Area Tourism Bureau serves the Higgins Lake area with lodging and other information at VisitHoughtonLake.com, or 1-800-676-5330.

AU TRAIN LAKE
This Alger County lake about nine miles east of Munising produces big pike from its 830 acres.