LAKE WACONIA
This is Pretzel's home lake and he has watched over the years as Waconia has evolved from a back-troller's paradise where anglers chased the large populations of walleyes on the midlake structure to one where deck boats flip the milfoil flats in search of big largemouth bass.

"There's always been bass in Waconia," Pretzel said, "but in the past eight years or so, probably because of the milfoil actually, there have just been a lot of really big ones."

Pretzel's weight of 24 pounds, 15 ounces for a five-largemouth limit was hardly unusual, he said.

"We have a lot of great days on Waconia, and that means catching a couple over 5 pounds, a bunch in the 4-pound range and plenty of 2- to 3-pounders."

Pretzel's go-to presentation on Waconia is the 3/4-ounce live-rubber jig tipped with a scented plastic trailer. He pitches the jig to the edge of the deeper weedlines.

"Not all weedlines are holding bass," Pretzel said. "The best locations are those where the vegetation ends because there's a dropoff. The best dropoffs are the ones that hit the deep water on a hard bottom. Most of my biggest fish are coming out of 14 to 18 feet of water."

Waconia has a public access on the east side with plenty of parking and a ramp that will handle any fishing boat. The bait and tackle shop in Waconia has staff that keep up with where the fish are and what they're biting on. Mase's In Towne Marina can be contacted at (952) 442-2096, or visit the Web site at www.fishandgame.com/intowne.

LAKE FRANCES
"We're always looking for the 'sleeper' lakes, you know, the ones that don't get a lot of bass fishing pressure so there are a lot of big fish there," said Danny Suggs as he described Lake Frances, which sits just to the north of the town of Elysian in Le Sueur County. "There's no shortage of tiny bluegills in this lake, and I think that's what the bass are eating," Suggs said. "That's why I like to set up on the weedline on this lake and cast deep-diving crankbaits in a bluegill pattern."

Sugg's approach has him positioning the boat in 10 feet of water directly over the vegetation and casting toward the deeper water.

"The bass are a foot or two off the bottom at the edge of the heavy vegetation in 12 to 14 feet of water, and when that deep-diver hits that zone, those bass jump right on it."

Suggs has tried his trademark plastic worm presentation, "but all I catch are those big yellow bullheads. They really like those worms."

For more on Lake Frances, call White Water Bait and Tackle at (507) 362-4277.

LAKE O'DOWD
Karen Savik is well versed at all of the techniques that attract big largemouth bass. She has to be to compete on the FLW national tournament series. But when the bass are calling for a jig-and-trailer pitched into the heavy cover, Savik is in her element. That's usually the case on Lake O'Dowd just south of Shakopee in Scott County.