"The lake if chock full of forage at times," said pro walleye angler Mark Martin. "This can really be a good thing in that all this food is a draw to the walleyes. But with all this forage available, it can be tough to get fish to strike lures. Your best bet is to appeal to the fish's instinct to strike. You know, sort of tease them into hitting."

Martin has been fishing Muskegon for a number of years and certainly knows this lake and the top angling techniques as well as anyone.

According to Martin, the alewives begin leaving the lake in early July, which makes the fishing improve substantially. This peak period of walleye fun will usually continue until around mid-August.

During this period, anglers can expect to do well using live-bait rigs along the various weedbeds and breaklines. And if night-fishing is your thing, this is certainly the place and time to do it. The night action here will continue late into the fall, with some of the largest fish coming from October through December.

By using crankbaits and trolling techniques, anglers can catch a fair share of their walleyes along the woodpiles, breaklines and riprap in the channel that connects Muskegon to Lake Michigan. This area can be productive, but conditions on Lake Michigan can make the water tough to navigate.

For information on lodging and launch facilities, contact the Muskegon Visitors Bureau at (269) 759-7254. For charters and guide service, call Capt. Tom Irwin at T.G.I.F. Walleye Charters at (269) 744-8451.

Natural reproduction is the main source of replenishment here, but occasional stocking has taken place over the years. Anglers will find that the average size in Burt isn't likely to capture any Master Angler Program award. Instead, these fish are going to be in the range of 14 to 18 inches in length. Good eating to say the least!

During the early season, look to rock and gravel shorelines for the majority of walleyes. The points and dropoffs near these areas will hold fish through most of the spring. One such spot can be found off the junction of Burt Lake Road and Mullett-Burt. Here, most fish remain in the 5-to 15-foot depths and can be caught until midsummer.

During the summer months look for the walleyes to hold along a section south of the M-89 public boat ramp. Spinner rigs trolled with crawlers or Lindy Rigs are a pretty good bet to use here. Once fall arrives, the current of the Sturgeon River acts as an attractant to this lake's walleye population. Troll or cast jigs and minnows along the dropoff during the daylight hours and cast the shallows with minnow-imitating lures at night.

Public boat launches are located off Brutus Road at the south end of the lake and off Highway 89 along the western shoreline.

Portage Lake is a fairly shallow body of water connected to Lake Superior on either side of the Keweenaw Peninsula. It becomes a fairly difficult to fish at times because of an abundance of weed growth. Here again, this lake's adversities may also be the exact reason the fish are as plentiful and grow as large as they do.

Planning and patience will be important to success here. With thick vegetation, plenty of structure and numerous points to work, it's a good idea to check with local anglers and bait shop personal to formulate a time-saving plan for catching Portage Lake walleyes.

Once located, standard crawler rigs made to be weedless, or skimming them over the top of greenery should work well. Pitching jigs tipped with rattles and crawlers into weed pockets can take fish as well, but I personally find this technique too slow.

When fishing Portage Lake for the first time, it's a good idea to have a guide along. For information on guides, lodging or the lake itself, call the Visitor's Bureau at (906) 482-5240.

"The fishing is pretty fantastic," declared Richard Smith of The Walleye Lodge near Bergland. "Pike, perch, panfish, you name it, it's here. But the real prize to Gogebic is the walleyes. This is place specializes in 'ole marble-eye."

Smith should have a pretty good handle on this lake. Having lived and fished in the area for most of his life, he knows it as well as anyone.

"You don't come here to expecting to catch a lot of huge wallhangers," he said. "Anglers can typically catch enough 15- to 18-inch fish to keep them coming back."

Of course, there's the scenery, too. If your idea of great fishing is sitting in a boat surrounded with pristine surroundings, this is just the place you need to be.

The average depth of the lake is 17 feet, with a break along the east side that drops to 35 feet. Lindy Rigs and bait-walkers backtrolled or drifted along the break can produce fish throughout the summer months.

Access to Lake Gogebic can be obtained from several points around the lake, with the best spots located off Slate Road on the east side and Ontonagon Road near the west shore. For more information on area lodging, call the Lake Gogebic Area Chamber of Commerce at (906) 842-3341.