There is an art to fishing rice. This heavy cover won't succumb to lures with many hooks that dive. You need to be able to pitch weedless jigs or strain the pockets in the beds with spoons like the Northland Jaw-Breaker or the Johnson Silver Minnow.

The largemouths on Leech Lake have a reputation for their quality sizes. While it may seem like there are plenty of huge bass in this lake, it's because they are concentrated in the rice. Therefore, consider this a resource that can only be maintained by catch-and-release bassin'.

For more information, go to www.leechlake.com.

POKEGAMA LAKE
The largemouth bassers familiar with the great fishing on Itasca County's Pokegama Lake tend to spend much of their time outside of the main basins. After dropping in the boat, they run up through the Jay Gould Channel to fish in the beds of vegetation in the river channel feeding the 6,600-acre main lake. It's a good game plan because there are numerous largemouths there, but don't rule out the main lake where many bucketmouths reside, which has been proved regularly by tournament anglers.

Most of the other largemouth hotspots on Pokegama are on the north end. It is here where anglers will find beds of standing bulrushes in Sugar Bay, cabbage flats in Poole Bay and Meyer's Bay, and a nice combination of both in Salter Bay.

For more information, go to www.grandmn.com.

WHITEFISH CHAIN
There are many lakes in this chain bordering the town of Cross Lake. They consist of Arrowhead, Bertha, Big Trout, Clamshell, Cross, Daggett, Island, Little Pine, Loon, Lower Hay, Lower Whitefish, Middle Whitefish, Pig, Rush and Upper Whitefish. This chain is well developed, so there are plenty of boat docks, and according to the bass anglers who fish here, those docks are loaded with largemouths.

Those people prone to brag will insist that a jig and twistertail pitched around the docks will result in non-stop bass action -- but then they should also readily admit these fish run in the 2-pound range. The more-secretive anglers won't tell you that the numerous bigger bucketmouths prefer to hang on the edge of the vegetation and are generally caught with deep-diving crankbaits and jigs.

The water clarity in many of the lakes on the Whitefish Chain is high, so expect a weedline capable of reaching 16 to 20 feet deep.

For more information, visit www.whitefishchain.com.

SWAN LAKE
The Otter Tail area is surrounded by some of our state's finest walleye waters. There are also some real largemouth bass "jewels" in this mixture of lakes. One of them is Swan Lake just south of Fergus Falls.

At slightly less than 700 acres, Swan has been substantially developed, so there is no shortage of docks to key on. Early and late in the season, the shallow south end is where largemouths will congregate in the weeds. During the peak of the summer, most bass anglers tend to spend their time in the deeper main basin. Consider Swan a great numbers lake, but don't rule out the possibility of landing a largemouth in the 4- to 5-pound range. The bigger fish will prefer the deeper water, sometimes even hanging out away from the weedline. Deep-diving crankbaits and plastic worms on a Carolina rig are a preferred method for the bigger bass.

For more information, go to www.swanlkresort.com.

FISH HOOK LAKE
You will want to use big baits when busting up the surface water around the bulrushes on Fish Hook Lake in Hubbard County because smaller spinnerbaits won't get past the rock bass. Half-ounce spinnerbaits and bigger chugger-style topwaters around the edges of the emerging vegetation may elicit a bite from one of the bigger rock bass, but largemouths can easily outcompete their cousins to crush a lure wandering by.

Be sure to slip through Fish Hook's channel on the south side that opens up into some tiny basins full of bulrushes, cabbage and coontail. This area gets some attention from bass anglers, but there always seems to be plenty of largemouths there, so it's always worth checking out.

For more information, visit Park Rapids' Web site at www.parkrapids.com.