Is this the right Round Lake?

COEUR d'ALENE - If my life on Tuesday was a Sherlock Holmes mystery, a fitting title to the story might be: "The Case of the Wrong Round Lake."

Or maybe, "The Last Cast Mishap."

Monday, I asked Idaho Department of Fish and Game fish guy Jim Fredericks about lakeshore fishing hot spots in the Panhandle. I wanted some easy targets in the hot weather.

"There are lots of smaller lakes - Kelso, Round, Smith, Brush, Fernan, among others- where people fish from the shore or off of public docks and do well on hatchery trout," Fredericks said.

I Googled Kelso to pinpoint its location, and discovered that Round Lake was also right next door. Nice and convenient. Too convenient, perhaps?

On the department's website, it also listed bass as potential targets on those two lakes, and I was in a bass sort of mood.

Tuesday, the public dock at Kelso was full of fisherman going after trout, which could be seen out in the lake, jumping. Fishermen in a couple boats with electric motors quietly trolled in the deeper waters.

With the dock full and after coming up empty on a few casts, a couple Press photographers and I decided we would just hike into neighboring Round Lake.

We couldn't find a public road into Round Lake, but some private driveways headed in. This would be missed clue No. 1.

So we parked at a public camping area at Granite Lake, also nearby, and started hiking into the back and undeveloped north side of Round Lake.

The "trail," if there was one at all on the way in, was by all appearances more suited to pygmy hogs than air-conditioned office dwelling humans. (Picture a guerrilla army's obstacle course that is now overgrown with decades of brush and downed trees.)

No trail in? That would be missed clue No. 2.

Throw in some standing water in the shaded spots under the canopy cover, with mosquitoes buzzing about, and you're starting to get to understand the challenge facing anyone willing to hike in to Round Lake.

Finally reaching the lake, my clumsy struggle down the short, steep slope to the water sent a couple 9- or 10-inch largemouth bass cruising toward deeper water. Good sign, I thought.

I casted out for more than an hour, using jig heads and little watermelon-colored rubber grubs. During that period I also offered up a Strike King Red Eye Shad lure.

There were no other fishermen on the lake. That would be the fatal missed clue No. 3.

Eventually, with no luck and relentless horse flies hovering, I reached the conclusion we should head back to the car.

I decided to throw out one more cast with the Red Eye.

Reeling in, and nearing shore, I let the lure drop to the bottom for a couple seconds. I started reeling again, slowly, and the Red Shad struggled off the bottom, looking like vulnerable prey.

Then it was instantly engulfed by a largemouth bass. I saw the flash as its white mouth expanded in the dark water five yards from shore.

After a quick fight I had the little killer on shore. A very steep shore.

Both the bass and I were surprised by the turn of events.

I reached down to unhook him, so I could hold up the prize and begin bragging to the photographers.

He wiggled off the hook, flipped from my hands, flopped down the bank and slipped back into the lake. Gone in an instant.

Frustrated, I let fly a brief verbal tantrum. Then I realized how I sounded.

I collected myself, grabbed my bag and started the hike back out.

It wasn't until I was all the way back at The Press offices in Coeur d'Alene and online again and Googling that I realized I had visited the wrong Round Lake.

Further north on U.S. 95, northwest of Cocolalla Lake in fact, is Round Lake State Park. There is the real Round Lake, where fishing was definitely easier on Tuesday.