Little Cormorant Lake
Take a 1/16-ounce jig, tip it with a small leech and drop it straight over the side of the boat into 12 to 14 feet of this Becker County water. Big bluegills hang along the edge of the vegetation and won't hesitate to inhale that bait. Expect the bigger fish to be in tight pockets, so keep moving until you find those respectable-sized fish.

AUGUST
Turtle River Lake
Special regulations on Turtle River Lake have meant you can't keep many of the pike you catch there, but that shouldn't stop you from taking advantage of the high numbers of this species.

This Beltrami County lake is a dandy spot to use a spinnerbait in the vegetation, and trollers will find the bottom contours easy to navigate.

Rose Lake
Deep, clear lakes are not often associated with good largemouth bass fishing, but if you want to get into some real "hawgs," then give Otter Tail's Rose a try. The deeper basin rules out a lot of water, so bass anglers will find themselves in the southern arm where the vegetation provides some cover. Take along some topwater lures, since these bass are not well educated and will go stupid for a chugger on the surface.

Bass Lake
Minnesota has a bunch of lakes named "Bass," but this bluegill beauty is in Itasca County. Forget the shallow water in the narrows and key on the deep weedline for big bluegills on this Bass Lake just north of Cohasset. You can keep only five 'gills due to special regulations, but why keep any when they're so fun to catch? Most bluegill anglers prefer the southern basin, but the deeper northern basin is just as good, maybe even better.

SEPTEMBER
Lake Stella
If you try to use a live-bait rig in Meeker County's Lake Stella for walleyes, you'll probably find that the panfish and bass won't leave you alone.

It seems they prefer that 18- to 23-foot depth range, too. Instead, you should tie on a deep-diving crankbait and troll at 2 to 2 1/2 mph. This may seem fast to some people, but it is well within the preferred range for the walleyes in this lake. There's a good population of nice walleyes that lends itself well to trollers.

Smith Lake
There's nothing like a well-defined weedline to test your skills with a Carolina-rigged plastic worm on largemouth bass. You will find a lot of bass along the edge of the vegetation on Smith Lake in Douglas County, so set up a nice north-to-south drift along the eastern shoreline and have some fun with that plastic worm.

Bad Medicine Lake
Bad Medicine Lake is deep, clear and full of rainbow trout. They're great fighters and really put a strain on a medium/light spinning rig. In September, those trout will still be deep, so plan on using a 1/8-ounce jig tipped with a half a night crawler or a trio of wax worms. Vertical jigging over a group of fish on the sonar works well while performing a slow drift down a deep breakline.

OCTOBER
Pleasant Lake
In October, Wright County's Pleasant Lake is the place to be.