Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Turn the television on to your favorite fishing program or show up at one of the professional walleye tournaments and you're bound to see boats, gear and anglers right out of the high-tech age. Let's face it, when you have electronics aboard that cost more than most of our first cars -- and boats with a price tag exceeding that of our first homes -- the fishing is serious. As a buddy of mine said at a tournament weigh-in, "These ain't your daddy's cane poles!"

For many hard-core walleye anglers, gone are the days of quiet, relaxing trips where you drift a bobber and crawler through a weedbed on a calm lake at daybreak, with nothing at stake but a great lunch of walleye filets. Exchanging these times for the fast-pace circuit makes you forget just how much fun and success can be had on our inland waters. Many of these lakes are teaming with walleyes, and offer as much fun as any big-water areas.

Here are a few of our state's top inland walleye lakes. While casting to the shallows or working a weedbed on one of them, sit back, take a deep breath and feel the stress of today's fast-paced activities disappear.

LAKE GOGEBIC
The 12,800 acres this lake covers makes it a virtual paradise for anglers, campers and sightseers. Its shore is lined with the type of pristine scenery that only the far north can give. Oak and pine trees cover the hills while cedars fill the lowlands around Gogebic.

But scenery isn't the top reason most anglers come to this largest of the Upper Peninsula lakes. Walleyes, walleyes and more walleyes are the main draw here. Lake Gogebic is a regular walleye factory when it comes to numbers of fish. It boasts one of the best populations of all of Michigan's inland lakes.

"I've lived in the U.P. all my life," said Mark Reardon of Ironwood. "The fishing's great and the hunting is second to none. If Lake Gogebic isn't the best walleye fishery in the state, I don't know how it can get any better."

According to Reardon, early-season anglers will want to work the east side of the lake.

"Most of the spawning takes place on the windswept gravel shorelines in the eastern bays," he said. "When season opens, these fish are still in the area. Casting a jig to the shallows and working it back is hard to beat. Early on, tip the jig with a minnow and then go to crawlers as the season progresses."

By early summer, most of the walleyes will inhabit the rocky dropoffs, weeds and woody structure. To cash in on these fish, try a bit of vertical jigging around the structure or simply offer up a single hook tipped with a crawler.

NORTH MANISTIQUE LAKE
North Manistique Lake in Luce County should not be mistaken for Big Manistique Lake just to the south of North Manistique. Because of several large alternate-year plantings by the DNR and minimal pressure compared to Big Manistique, North Manistique has become a topnotch walleye fishery in anyone's book.

Basically bowl-shaped and featureless compared to many northern lakes, Manistique is benefiting from manmade cover in the form of logs, brush and trees that were sunk by locals looking to create better fish habitat.

During the months of May and June, anglers can look forward to regular catches of 15- to 20-inch walleyes, with some reaching 28 inches. These aren't your typical "trophy" fish for the wall, but they sure do a frying pan proud.