You could call it a wild ride to better mental health - in a big boat, on a big lake, where tasty walleyes swim.

When Pia Wilkins and Nancy Fleming hired Spearfish fishing guide Mike Donahue for a two-day adventure on Lake Oahe - that monster of Missouri River reservoirs - they wanted more than a limit of fish. It was getaway time for the two post-50 women, who consider time on the water to be treasured treatment for the soul.

"I've been fishing for years. So has Nancy," says Wilkins, a 62-year-old retired investigator for the state Department of Social Services in Rapid City. "Nancy and I started fishing together about five years ago. I was an investigator, and she was a case worker. That's when we learned about burnout and keeping our sanity, and the benefits of outdoor time to our mental health."

That outdoor time typically involved a day at a Black Hills lake, often Sheridan, tempting trout with an earthy night crawler or two. Those are still important outings. But the angling duo recently looked for a new level of soul-soothing recreation.

They found it on Oahe, in Donahue's wave-worthy fishing boat. But long before they set foot in that craft, they checked him out.

"There was an ad, I think in the Journal, about fishing guides. And I called him, and we visited," Wilkins said. "I did some checking on him with people who knew fishing. And eventually Nancy and I drove up to Spearfish, met with him and looked at his boat."

They liked what they saw and heard, including rates of $200 a day per person. So they booked a two-day trip to Oahe.

Donahue, a Pierre native who makes his living in historic-building restoration and building repair, said it was unusual for a prospective fishing client to check him out in person before the outing.

"That just doesn't happen very often," he said. "I said, 'Pia, you come up and we'll have a pop and you can look around and ask questions.'"

They liked Donahue's answers well enough to spend two days with him on Oahe, a massive reservoir with more shoreline than the state of California and a tendency to get unruly when the prairie winds blow. That was a concern for Donahue on the blustery second day of the trip.

"The first day was just gorgeous and the fishing was pretty easy," he said. "The second day, the wind blew up and I was leery of taking them out on the big water."

The alternative on windy days is often the upper reaches of Lake Sharpe near Pierre, where boats and anglers can escape some of the wind. But Wilkins and Fleming didn't want to dodge the elements. They were there for the adventure as much as the fish. And Oahe gave them all they asked for.

"I said, 'Girls, hold on,' and we took off from the ramp at Little Bend that second day," Donahue said. "My boat is a good, big-water boat, and fairly fast, and we got up on those waves at 40 mph and cooked all the way to the Cheyenne River. They loved it. I thought it was tough, but they thought it was great."

Fleming said the ride - smooth and fast the first day, rough and exciting the second - was as enjoyable as the fishing.

"That was really quite fun," she said. "I used to water-ski, and it was just kind of fun to go fast on the water.

Fleming, 54, now works with the Suicide Awareness Partnership Project, a job that holds a unique level of emotional pressure. A Minnesota native who grew up canoeing on north woods water, she finds relaxation and renewal in time on the water, whether the fish bite or not.

More people should do the same, she said.

"I'd like to see more interest in the outdoors. Even our kids seem to be getting away from that," she said. "We don't have those connections to the outdoors like we used to. When I'm out there, I don't think of it as people outdoors. I think of it as being in the real world."

Donahue likes that notion. At 52, he uses his part-time guiding business more as a way to help cover the costs of his Missouri River angling passions than anything likely to add to his retirement accounts.

And he especially enjoys the trips when the clients bring good spirits along with their fishing rods, as Wilkins and Fleming did.

"Oh, lord, we power fished. I'm serious," Donahue said. "I love to fish. And I love to fish with people who love to fish. These gals wanted to learn, and they put what they learned to use, right away. Boy, it was fun."

Which, in itself, tends to be pretty good for a person's mental health.

Contact KevinWoster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com