"Round is a numbers lake," Erlander said. "They're not that big, but they're not that bad, with most running in the 14- to 18-inch range."

Janousek has spent some quality time on Round and has uncovered a few secrets to finding fish.

"Although there is a fair amount of deeper offshore structure that can hold fish, one of my top spots is a shoreline break off of a slowly tapering sand flat that has gravel thrown in for good measure," Janousek said. "I actually found the spot by accident. I was punching holes and looking for fish when I started catching and catching. After dropping an underwater camera down a hole and taking a good look, I could see that I had set up on a transition from sand to gravel. Anglers could move in around me and catch a few fish but not nearly as many as I could off of that transition. As far as depth goes, I'll spend most of my time working down to maybe 18 feet, because you'll run into mud if you try to head any deeper.

"My presentation for Round is the same as it is for Gull, and I'll almost always be using a jigging spoon along with a bobber-and-shiner combination," Janousek continued. "The key is not setting up too far away from each other. The idea is to use the attraction of the spoon to get them to take the shiner, so try and stay within 4 feet or so of the other bait."

North Long lies straight east of Gull and directly south of Round, and is probably closer to a natural walleye lake than the rest of the bass/panfish waters, but it still requires regular stocking to support its healthy population of fish.

"North Long is a unique lake that produces numbers of nice-sized fish, as well as some heavy-duty models," Erlander said.

This relatively large lake has huge, slow-tapering sand flats that drop quickly into deeper water, as well as plenty of offshore humps that have some rock and gravel that can run as deep as 25 feet. The combination of clear water and suitable structure can make for steady deep-water action. All of it can hold fish, but you can never rule out the shoreline breaks.

Sylvan is another lake that deserves mentioning, and is one that doesn't get the notoriety or the pressure that some of the others do.

"Sylvan doesn't put out big numbers, but the ones it does give up are exceptional," Erlander said. "It has only a couple of offshore humps, but it does have plenty of shoreline breaks and deep breaking points that can hold fish."

This overlooked big-fish fishery is straight south of Gull and is actually connected to Wilson Bay by a couple of smaller lakes and a channel.

Lake Edwards lies approximately six miles straight east of Nisswa and is a stocked lake that has been relatively quiet for a number of years -- at least until recently. Guide Toby Kvalevog of Brainerd has seen a definite increase in the Edwards action as of late, which would indicate the lake is carrying a good population of predators like walleyes and a reduced amount of available baitfish.

"We saw the bite pickup during the open-water season with a lot of good catches being made, and when that happens, it usually carries right through the winter period," Kvalevog said. "All lakes go through cycles, and when the conditions are right, it's definitely something to take advantage of."

Edwards doesn't have too much offshore structure, but it does have plenty of shoreline breaks.

"There are only a couple of deeper humps, but there are a lot of steeper breaks, especially on the north end of the lake," Kvalevog said. "There are also shoreline flats that extend out to the middle of the lake with good breaklines that should definitely be checked out."