Okay I know it,s not current, but it,s the last trip abroad for me and being a pernsioner I can,t aford to do it often. Arrived in South Dakota 19 May 2010 and was collected by an old friend from school who I stayed overnight with. Next day I was driven to Redfield where I lived from 1949-1962 and met up with about eight former high school class mates I hadn,t seen since 1962 for a meal. My half-sister met me there and took me to her house where I would stay till June 8. The Sunday of May 23 was free fishing weekend in South Dakota so visited Lake Richmond just outside Aberdeen. Though I had a few bites on live minnows using spinning gear caught nothing as the water was very high and the lake extremely crowded-what access there was too difficult for me to manage at my age. The weekend of June 7-8 two old school friends Frank Carr and Duane Graves invited me to fish the Missouri River at Ft Thompson using Frank,s lovely boat and staying overnight at the Lode Star Casino and Motel owned and managed by the local Lakota Sioux Tribe. Saturday was sunny and hot and we all got sunburned quickly. I tried out my new Cabelas 10 foot 9-10 wt fly rod with large arbour reel with Minkies and Zonkers, but except for one small walleye and a greedy perch got little interest so switched to spinning rod and live minnows and began to catch. Even then because the water was so high the fishing wasn,t easy. That night we experienced one Hell of a thunder and Lightning storm and in the morning the weather had changed completely-very windy and cold with a watery sun-so windy we had to move below the Oahe Dam to avoid the wind which even a drogue couldn,t stop us drifitng too much in. The fishing was slow and many were undersized, but we managed to catch enough to provide a lovely meal so the fish were duly cleaned and placed in an ice chest immediately so I could take them with me on my trip with other friends the following day. Not long after I returned to Redfield I joined another old school friend Daryl Boots and his wife Sandy-they were letting me ride with them in their mobile home enroute to Seattle, Washington where they were attending a family wedding at the end of the week. The Monday was fairly uneventful the only problem heavy rain which dogged us into Wyoming and Montana, but by the time we stopped for the night at an RV(Recreational Vehicle) camp just outside Broadus it had cleared. Tuesady morning we visited the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn which was very interesting. Somehow I,d spent many summers travelling form South Dakota to Washington and back with my parents in the 1950s, but they,d never visited the site of Custer,s Last Stand. The weather stayed nice and we stopped at Three Forks that night. Wednesday afternoon after spending over two days in Montana we finally entered Idaho and stayed the last eveing on the shores of Lake Couer D,Aleyn. It was here that Sandy cooked the fish-walleye, smallmouth bass and landlocked striped bass fillets and they were scrummy. We reached Creston where my aunt Flo lives Thursday morning where the Boots' and I parted company. Flo drove me the last 30 miles to Grand Coulee where my late Mother and my brother live right on Lake Roosevelt. I stayed with them till June 25 and got to go fishing on nearby Banks Lake four times in old friends Rich Rooneys, bass boat which I actually managed to fall out of in 30 feet of water as I didn,t realise how close they are to the waterline. It,s a good thing it was a warm day. While there I caught my first ever kokanee(silver trout), personal best smallmouth bass 4 pounds 4 ounces, but no walleyes or rainbows which the water is famous for as it was too cold for the walleys and the rainbows were at 140 feet and the only successful way to go for them was trolling. Got one kokanee on a silver minkie, but the others were on jighead spinning lures. The scenery there was worth the air fare on its own, though. The coulees themselves are magnificent and the wildlife....Two young deer drinking from the river mere yards from us and taking no notice-a goden eagle flying oevrhead looking for its dinner. I just wish I could afford to go back soon, but don,t know when that,ll be. Did take some photos, but only wish it could have ben videos.l

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The scenery in the Grand Coulee area of eastern Washington was worth the air fare on its own!