"It's funny how that works," Slaughter said. "I've been on Fall Lake one day catching walleyes at the falls that go into Newton, and the next day they're not there. Then head over to the Kawishiwi River and you find fish biting there. You never want to get locked into one lake, because when conditions cause the fish to move or quit biting in one spot, there are others that will be going strong."

While it seems the experts tend to favor the big bodies of water for their ability to consistently produce quality walleye fishing, these pros will admit that a day on a small lake chasing walleyes where the structure may be limited or the fish are stocked is always part of their open-water game plan.

"There's a little stretch of the Kawishiwi River that's just north of Highway 1 that gets bypassed by most of the campers because it's right where the portage is," Slaughter said. "People load their canoes and take off for a campsite and don't even try to wet a line right there where all those walleyes are lying in the current."

Slaughter will portage a canoe to this spot and paddle a few hundred yards upstream and drift back down while vertical jigging a minnow over the rocky bottom, and he'll catch three or four walleyes on every pass.

"There are a lot of these spots on the lakes and rivers up here where they're just too close to the portages to generate any attention," Slaughter said. "That falls from Newton into Basswood is another good spot, and near the landing to Lake One has some great fishing near it, but it never gets fished."

Johnson said with a little research you can find those small, productive lakes that don't get much serious pressure. "Just visit the DNR's Web site and use the Lakefinder option to check the lake reports," Johnson said. "There are some lakes I like to fish in the Alexandria region that meet my criteria, like Mary, Amelia, Andrew and Carlos. These are lakes with high numbers of walleyes, and they fish great during those peak summer months."

These lakes are typically well developed with residential houses, as well as resort facilities.

"This makes them prime candidates for night-fishing," Johnson said. "All that boat traffic from the pleasure craft will slow down the bite in the daytime, but at night, you have the lakes all to yourself."

Johnson used Lake Mary as an example.

"The coontail on the main basin grows out into 15 feet of water," he said. "I'll drift this edge and cast a deep-diving crankbait and run it parallel with the vegetation. Those walleyes move up to this edge after dark and they really crush those crankbaits. This tactic works well on most of the lakes in this region."