Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

In Minnesota, the walleye is king. This has been the case for generations. If you were raised in this state, chances are good that when your father first took you out to do some serious fishing, he put a spinning rod with a live-bait rig in your hand. You would back-troll for hours dragging night crawlers and leeches over rockpiles while waiting for that telltale "tick-tick" to signal a bite.

What you probably didn't know then and may not have known until now is that those "walleye lakes" in the northwoods have big largemouth bass swimming in them. Seriously. Lunker largemouths hide in the coontail and cabbage on the weedy shoreline flats and in the backs of the grass-bottomed bays "up north." But back in "the old days," who would want to fish for bass when there were walleyes to be caught?

Times have changed. Fishing for largemouth bass has taken hold, even in the walleye capital of the world. Anglers now pursue bucketmouths with a passion as fierce as that of any of our homegrown walleye fanatics. These bassers are leaving no lily pad unturned as they tap into their topwater lures, spinnerbaits and jigs to tempt largemouths -- even in the northwoods of Minnesota that was once the bastion of walleye anglers. What they are discovering is that these previously untapped bass resources are loaded with largemouths more than willing to crush a lure.

Here are some northern Minnesota lakes where you could end up yelling out, "Son, that's a big bass!"

LAKE VERMILION
In the late 1990s, competitive bass fishing made its way to Lake Vermilion when some high-visibility tournaments were held. While most competitors initially thought smallmouth bass would be the target species, these tourney anglers soon discovered that the lake had a healthy population of largemouth bass, and the smallmouths took a back seat. Even after the word got out about the fine largemouth fishing on Vermilion, this huge lake still has acres of cover where bass have never seen a lure.

The key to finding largemouths on 40,000-acre Vermilion is the vegetation. The bigger main-lake basins are mostly sand, rubble and rock, but the bays -- and there are plenty of them on Vermilion -- grow lush beds of cabbage and coontail. There are also bulrush beds lining shoreline areas where the bottom is soft.

A nice benefit from northwoods lakes is that the water stays cooler for longer periods, and this means the largemouths can be found in the shallow cover throughout the season.

Anglers who enjoy fishing with topwater lures for bucketmouths will appreciate the willing response they get on Vermilion. Chugger-style topwater lures and floating frogs are productive around the lily pads, and spinnerbaits in the bulrushes guarantee success.

First-time bass anglers to Vermilion are often tempted by the boat docks lining the shoreline, but unless there is some vegetation surrounding this manmade cover, you will only find the smallmouth variety of bass using it. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

For more on Vermilion, go to www.lakemilion.com.

BURROWS LAKE
Located entirely in the Chippewa National Forest,Burrows Lake provides that picturesque northwoods feel, but this lake definitely has all the qualities of a productive largemouth bass lake. Just beware of the landing if you have a large boat. The marginal ramp is better suited to the smaller winch-on style of boat.

Once on the lake, you will notice that the water clarity is good, the weedline is deep, and there are plenty of lily pads for bass to hide under. The smart angler starts shallow and works deep when chasing bass on Burrows. Start working the pads with topwaters, preferably the floating frogs you can twitch in the pockets. From the edge of the lily pads into about 15 feet of water, you can work jigs and crankbaits in the coontail and around the stalks of the submerged grasses.

There are plenty of largemouths in Burrows, and while most will be in the 2- to 3-pound range, an occasional 5-pounder is caught.

For more information, visit www.northminnesota.com.

LEECH LAKE
The largemouth bass in Leech Lake concentrate in the rice beds in the bays, but this can be a problem because anglers can be tough on the rice, which is a bad thing for those who want to harvest this food source in the fall. With this in mind, be extremely careful to navigate your boat without damaging the rice, which can be done by staying on the edge of the beds while using your electric motor to maintain boat position.