Greetings from the world's worst sportsman. Man, what a day. A friend of mine turned me on to a spot south of Cheney to do some turkey hunting. As it turned out, it was right near Chapman. I had been reading up a bit on this lake over the past couple weeks and was thinking it might be a good spot to try after trying Downs (and getting skunked) last Sunday for the first time. We did a quick drive-by of the "resort" this morning and then went and found our turkey spot.

So we hiked up into the woods, made several calls (hen, gobbler and crow) and heard absolutely nothing. We hunkered down for a couple hours, calling every 20-30 minutes and...nothing. Hiked back out; headed back to Cheney; got some breakfast (I highly recommend the #8 skillett at Willow Springs Station); and then went home where I took a short nap. Woke up when my wife and kids got home and asked my 7-year-old son if he wanted to go fishing. He said yes, so off we went for Chapman at about 3.

We were on the lake by 4 - and again I was targeting the big bass I was hearing about. Guy at the office said they just started biting last weekend. I got a nibble on about my 3rd cast...and another one on about my 300th...and that was it. I threw my crawdad Fatrap and that got the first nibble, threw a black worm and a couple different spinner baits - got the last bite on a small white one.

We also did some trolling for trout, using pop gear and a rainbow needlefish, tipped with a small worm on one rod and a green rooster tail (running shallow) on another - and got no bites. We saw a butt-load of little trout jumping all over the lake and when I say little, I mean 6 inches at most. I also saw one fish - either a small bass or perch follow my white spinner bait up to the boat. The highlight of our trip was seeing a river otter - which my son really got a kick out of.

Air temp was around 60, overcast and pretty windy. I don't get water temp on my fish finder. Talked to several boats on the water and heard that small rainbow and kokanee were being caught as well as perch and crappie. One guy showed me his stringer which had about seven 7-9" trout on it (why were you keeping those, dude??) and I saw a couple other guys catching what looked to be even smaller perch from a distance. We were on the water at 4 and pulled out at about 8:30.

This is a REALLY nice, rustic lake but I'll need to see some good reports on it before I go back.

This is my second weekend in a row at a smalI Spokane County lake know for good bass fishing. It was very windy both times. Is this why they weren't biting or do I just suck at this? So guys and gals, help a struggling fella out - I can't handle getting skunked for a third outing in a row!! Where should I go in (or near) Spokane County for some largemouth action? Rock? Eloika? Anyone?? Beuhler???