Tim Long is a fan of Lake Gogebic, the Upper Peninsula’s largest inland lake, which in early 2012 was one of the few water bodies in Michigan with safe ice.

Long guides for walleyes on Gogebic, a walleye and perch fishery that has caught the attention of anglers like walleye pro Mark Martin of Twin Lake, who hopes to offer one of his popular ice fishing vacation/schools there in 2013.

On a visit just before New Year’s, he and a group joined about 50 shanties spread across eight inches of new ice at the lake’s northeastern end.

Long said that nearly all of them belonged to locals, who’d probably rather keep the news of the lake’s improving fishery to themselves.

"Some anglers from Wisconsin come to fish for the day, but I would like to attract people to stay. I'm trying to do this for our entire community of 200 people," said Long, a walleye pro who took a break from the tournament trail four years ago to purchase the Timbers Resort at Bergland.

Green weeds tickled the underside of the lake ice where we settled down in portable ice shacks. Martin said that meant they still produced oxygen, keeping fish active and nearby.

Long and his helper, Taylor Newhouse, set tip-ups over a series of holes along the edge of the same weed bed in about seven feet of water while we jigged minnow heads and artificial bait such as the Berkley Gulp.

Since the walleye bite here is typically an hour before sunrise and two hours after sunset Long’s Tip-ups had tiny LED lights attached to each flag. When a fish hits, the LED glows red and the the flag goes vertical, For bait, Long uses three-inch white sucker minnows on small treble hooks.

“Some may use a circle hook, but I like to use a treble hooked behind the top fin so the bait swims free,” Long said. “I set the rigs up with a three-foot leader of 10-pound test, two-pound diameter Fireline, so if I get into a northern, nine times out of 10 they won’t bite me off.”

Long also attaches a small bobber to mark the proper depth, and lowers the bait.

While Martin and others managed to land lots of sub-legal walleye on our first afternoon, a good sign of the lake’s health, I tied into a good fish on a small glow-in-the-dark Rapala jig. After a couple of runs, the fish wound itself in those lake weeds and got free, leaving me with only a huge wad of green. My shanty partner had also hooked one, only to lose it when it bumped the bottom of the ice.

By the end of the day however, the tip-ups had done the trick, hooking several keeper walleyes, and one huge perch, approaching 16 inches and at least two pounds.

A few days later, Long moved deeper toward the lake’s old riverbed, with even better results, getting walleye up to 21 inches.

Long said that the local chapter of Walleyes For Tomorrow, which he helped start, is working to improve the lake’s fishery.

The group is undertaking a five-year perch habitat project with the DNR, annually dropping fresh balsam trees through the ice to create spawning areas. Long said walleye in the lake live largely off wigglers, which do not provide enough sustenance for them to grow larger. His group hopes to diversify the forage base as well.

With an $11,000 grant from Walleyes For Tomorrow national headquarters, the chapter also will create rock reefs, habitat for crayfish, minnows and snails that walleye love. The group also is introducing 100,000 spot-tail shiners, with more to follow. They’re natural to the Lake Superior watershed and a natural walleye food.

“We’re increasing the numbers of perch here for sportsmen and also creating a natural forage base for walleye,” Long said.

Send e-mail to the author: sports@grpress.com