For local information, contact the Midland County Convention and Visitors Bureau at 1-888-464-3526 or www.midlandcvb.org.

LAKE MARGRETHE
Sendek calls Lake Margrethe just west of Grayling a "flashy" walleye lake. "It has some very good years, and then there are bad years," said Sendek. "Last year was pretty poor, but there's a good year-class coming up, and I expect this winter will be a good one."

The fishing fortunes may well reflect the periodic injection of planted walleyes, which in this lake grow into dandies -- a lot of 20-inchers.

Lake Margrethe is a fooler. Much of the northern end is shallow, less than 15 feet deep. But Sendek said the good fishing comes where shallow water tumbles into deeper holes in the lake's central and southern portions. Sendek said successful ice-anglers fish here a little deeper than in most lakes, from 15 to 30 feet. Both jigging and tip-ups produce.

Gaining access to the nearly 2,000-acre lake is easy, with public access at a U.S. Forest Service campground in the northwest corner and a DNR access site at the southern tip of the lake, with the latter being closest to some of the deeper walleye-holding holes.

For more information, contact the Grayling Visitors Bureau 1-800-937-8837 or www.grayling-mi.com.

PEACH LAKE
Don Barnard of Sanford is a fisheries technician who works out of the DNR's Saginaw Bay District office at Bay City. With his electrofishing and other survey equipment, he gets to look at a lot of lakes. He also likes to hit them on his own time in winter with rod and reel or tip-ups. Barnard said Peach Lake near West Branch in Ogemaw County is a pretty darned good walleye lake.

Peach Lake covers a few hundred acres, feeding Peach Creek, which flows into the River Fiver's West Branch. From time to time, it gets plants of walleyes, and subsequent surveys have found good numbers of them, some over 24 inches.

This lake has plenty of ledges, underwater bars, dropoffs and more of the shifting structure that walleyes -- and smart anglers -- learn to love. Winter anglers use both minnow-rigged tip-ups and rod-bobbed Swedish Pimples. There's a public access site on the eastern shoreline, and on a lake this small, that's all you need to have a lot of good walleye fishing within walking distance.

For more information, contact the West Branch-Ogemaw County Travel Bureau at 1-800-755-9091.

HUBBARD LAKE
If you've let a good chunk of the winter slip away on you, or you're looking for a late-season change of scenery, give some consideration to Hubbard Lake in Alcona County.

"This is a later-winter fishery," said Sendek. Anglers in the know "usually fish deep in 30 to 50 feet of water, with tip-ups with big minnows." You can fool fish with jigs, too, but remember: "No matter what you do, do it deep."

For more information, contact the Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-4-ALPENA, or online at www.alpenachamber.com.

Most of us have busy lives these days, but we also need some time to get away from it all. These walleye hotspots should keep you all warm and fuzzy until spring!