600 Fish Milestone on the Way to 1000

September 7, 2026 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing, Life at the Cabin, Outdoors

I started the weekend with a yearly tally of 578 fish. My goals were first to break the 600 fish milestone then put a dent in towards the 700.

600 Fish on the Way to 1000

The fun in the numbers of Perch I can catch is to experiment with different flies and combinations. For now I am throwing them a Trout fishing combination, the hopper copper dropper. That’s a foam grasshopper as the floater with a bead head copper John as the dropper fly. The Hopper – Copper – Dropper.

The combo proved to be quite successful. Friday night, in only 10 casts, I landed 3 perch. For Saturday, I switched to my new #12 hoppers (see below) with a Copper John dropper. Saturday was a day with more time available to fish, in-between yard work and some other recreation. Unfortunately I never had my phone/camera with me as I was thrilled to land a 9″ Perch along with 46 other perch throughout the day. That included 2 Perch that I was able to catch on the hopper itself.

Fishing for Perch Like Trout

I tried this after just returning from a fly fishing trip in southern Alberta where it was the most productive pattern combo of the trip, so why not try it on perch? The Copper John has always worked well so may as well give ’em two flies. The #10 sized hoppers I was casting for the rainbows and browns last weekend was getting hit by the Perch but seemed to be too big for them, only one Perch actually hooked and landed on the hopper. So I have tied some smaller #12 hoppers to see if I can hook up a few more Perch on the slightly smaller fly in addition to the Copper John, which I know will catch dozens of fish.

On the way to 700

With the next milestone in sight, I know the timeline is running short. It’s September now and besides fishing, I have plans to spend time knocking down some geese and ducks. Then there’s the annual maintenance tasks on the cabin and of course at some point, depending on when I have help available, it will be time to take the boat, Sea Doos, lift and dock out of the water before it gets too cold.

I’m now at 630 fish and my time out will be spent chasing after bigger fish, Pike and Walleye, with some time at the Last Call spot for Perch and likely off the dock as well. The timeline, and other activities planned, suggests that the target of 1000 is a far outside chance. But if I don’t cast a line often enough, then there is no chance, so I will continue to fish on.

Southern AB Fly Fishing Trip 2026 Edition – Day 4

August 31, 2026 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing, Outdoors

Thursday Fly Fishing – Oldman and homeward bound

We had started at the Oldman River – Sunnyside, it was a good start, 4 fish that evening. It was the most on-the-way spot for my trip back so we started the day there just after sunrise.

We didn’t have the same success at that spot as Tuesday evening but if you don’t wave your fishing sticks at the water you won’t ever catch any fish. It was worth the effort to some up empty.

As we returned to the parking spot, we encountered a woman with her hood up on her van. We asked if she needed some help. She was on her way back from Alaska to home, south of the border. We offered her a ride to the nearest town, Fort Macleod, where she would be able to get help. She didn’t have a cell plan that worked in Canada and wondered if her AAA plan would cover her in Alberta. She declined our ride. Maybe it had something to with a couple of scruffy guys emerging from the bush. Hope she was able to get some assistance.

I dropped off Klubber at his house in Lethbridge and mapped a different route back to Saskatoon to avoid some construction I had encountered on the was to the fishing trip. A brief stop at home in Saskatoon to pick up my wife and then to the cabin for the weekend. Yes, the fly rod came out there as well. I wanted to test out the Hopper – Copper – Dropper combo on the Perch. I know they loved the bead-head Copper John I use there most of the time and that had produced most of my fish on the Southern Alberta Fly Fishing Trip. It was a very successful combo for Perch. While the Perch were hitting the hopper fly, I only actually landed one on that hopper fly while another 35 Perch were caught and released on the Copper John. My goal for the upcoming long weekend will be to tie some smaller hopper patterns, downsizing from a #10 to a #14 hook/fly and see if I can land more Perch on the Hopper. (that will be a future article)

Southern AB Fly Fishing Trip 2026 Edition – Day 3

August 31, 2026 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing, Outdoors

Wednesday Fly Fishing – The Oldman Dam and more

The Oldman Dam was our starting point and also a spot we we presented with the opportunity to practice our field fix skills. Translation, broken rod tip. I was lazy the night before and set my rod in the back, flies attached. This morning I was careless and just grabbed it to move it aside so I could get started putting on waders. One of the flies grabbed and I snapped my rod tip. I’ve broken rod tips before. I knew if I wanted to keep fishing, it was field fix time again.

A small piece of Gorilla Tape was used to hold the tip in place, with about 1-1/2″ of overlap to the main rod section then winding on some 12 pound Trilene from my tackle box. Finally some quick dry LePage Gel glue. Wait about 15 minutes for the glue to set and harden while I watched Klubber fish, then time to put the field fix to the test. The first test would be casting. The second test, hopefully, would be landing a fish.

Casting felt great, same as before the break, then test 2 presented itself. An 11″ Brown Trout hit the Copper John floating under my hopper (a hopper – copper – dropper) and I brought it to the net.

This was a tough spot to wade and cast. Most of the fishing from that section of the river would be from man made fish structure rock piles. We decided to return to the Waterton where most fish were caught by Klubber. I managed a Whitefish from the Swimming Hole rapids. Klubber pulled out Browns from Brownsville Station and from a spot we hadn’t ever caught anything, which we named Brookview. A number of fish took a run at the various flies but gave up the chase short of getting hooked.

We went to the Twin Butte restaurant again. Had the bison burger this time. Felt a little guilty not ordering Mexican food but it was delicious.

Southern AB Fly Fishing Trip 2026 Edition – Day 2

August 31, 2026 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing, Outdoors

Wednesday Fly Fishing – The Waterton River

We stayed in Pincher Creek, a central location, saving ourselves up to an hour of driving each morning so we could be on the water, casting, in the cooler times of the day. With highs approaching 30 degrees, we wanted to get there early.

We fished the Waterton River near Twin Butte. We have fished here before, some of my best Brown Trout catches are from this area.

It’s also great spot for scenery.

We fly fished a few spots that might have names from the locals, but we have made up our own. At the Swimming Hole Rapids we pulled out a nice 15″ Brown Trout (Klubber) and 2 Whitefish (me). At Brownsville Station we caught and released an 11″ Rainbow Trout (me), a 10″ Brown Trout (Klubber) and a Whitefish (Klubber).

At The Trench we had a few hits but never brought anything to the net. We finished our day in time to make our annual stop at the Twin Butte General Store. They have a fantastic Mexican restaurant attached to the store, it’s the main attraction. I had contemplated the bison burger, but you don’t get a burger at a Mexican restaurant. Then back to the room to rest our bodies for tomorrows adventure.

Southern AB Fly Fishing Trip 2026 Edition – Day 1

August 31, 2026 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing, Outdoors

Tuesday Evening Fly Fishing

Hitting the highway that morning with a full thermos of coffee, ham and cheese sandwiches, 2 bags of Spitz, and my fly fishing gear. Off to Lethbridge to pick up buddy Klubber and get in some fishing on the Oldman river west of Fort Macleod at a spot called Sunnyside.

Our evening fishing was a good start to the trip. We worked a spot a 10 minute walk up river from the bridge and hooked a decent fish on a hopper fly, the first hopper fly I ever tied, but lost it.

Other rising fish did not take to the hopper fly. Worked our way up stream to a few more spots but no rises, no bites. With about an hour left of sunlight, we went back to where we had the bite and where we had seen the rises. We tried a variety of flies – hoppers, Caddis, beetles – then finally a bead head Copper John was the fly of the day. I landed a 12″, 11″, and 13″ Rainbow Trout and Klubber pulled in the fish of the day with a beautiful 19″ Rainbow trout with great girth.

It took us a bit of time to find the spot and the fly but persistence paid off. A really good start to the trip.

Southern AB Fly Fishing Trip 2026 Edition

August 24, 2026 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing, Outdoors

For the past number of years, me and buddy Klubber have been trading fishing trips in the late Spring and late Summer. In late Spring he comes to my cabin at Wakaw, SK and we toss flies and other lures for Pike, Walleye, and Perch. Then in late summer I pick him up in Lethbridge and we head to the Pincher Creek area to fly fish the trout rivers of the southern Alberta foothills.

We have had really good days, in both locations, and some days when we are just practicing casting, line management, and knot tying while testing all our rods and reels.

Tomorrow I leave for the AB portion and Klubber will be my guide, hopefully my net man, and the friend I share stories and lies with all the way back to high school and our minor hockey days. But first the prep. We both have all the gear we need. From waders to rods to nets, etc. Not the top of the line gear one pays ungodly amounts of money for to look their best with the shiniest of stuff, but good quality reliable gear, field and stream tested gear. Hopper flies have been the most productive flies in the past on the rivers we are most likely to fish over the next few days. We have pulled some nice Brown Trout up to 20″, some Rainbow Trout also up to 20″, and smaller Brook Trout.

I have always used store bought hoppers. This year, I checked out a how-to video on YouTube for tying hopper flies and set out to tie my own. I bought some materials I didn’t have and set out to follow the instructions. The first hopper fly from my bench was a bit of a mess:

Here it is out in the wild:

I have never been much a perfectionist when tying flies. In fact, a bit of the opposite. I like them a bit messy, a bit injured looking. I think that simulates an easy meal out in the real world. I did get a little bit better as I learned the techniques better, the 3rd through 10th flies are far better than the first two:

Still far from perfection. I’m okay with that. So much so that I have hopper fly #1 tied on and ready to cast at the first piece of water we stop at tomorrow:

Tonight I will load my Jeep with the gear for the trip, I won’t bore you with the list. If you are a fellow fly fisher, you know the list. Tomorrow I will pack a lunch for the drive and hit the highway, with the goal of having a ton of scenery pics and a few fish pics by sundown.

Can I Catch 1000 Fish in a Year

August 16, 2026 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing, Ice Fishing, Life at the Cabin

The answer most likely is yes.

Fishing Nerd

You can call me a fishing nerd, because I like to track how many fish I caught each day. It’s August 15th and I just reached 514 fish for the year. Fish # 514 tonight was a 28″ Pike on my Iron Butterfly Minnow streamer fly. Not a big fish but a decent fish on a fly rod. A fair bit smaller than the really fat 32″ Pike from last trip out. I will often also track the weather conditions and which lure produced the most fish.

Fly Rod is my Favorite Rod

If I catch 1000 fish, 950 of them will likely be on a fly rod. One of my three fly rods. They each have their own purpose.

Starting from the 4 weight. I keep this on the dock with a bead head Copper John fly. The Perch love this. If I only wanted to reach the number of 1000, I could do this from the dock and catch 1000 Perch. I went out this morning and in 15 minutes I had caught 20 Perch. Perch are fun, but small. The excitement of Perch is in the numbers, not the pull on the fly rod. A good perch off the dock is a 6 incher. A monster is 8 inches. So it’s a volume = fun game. I have measured the cork on my 4 weight fly rod handle, it’s 7 inches, so this Perch below is about 6-1/2″.

My 6 weight is my Trout rod. It’s also been known to land some Pike. It’s the rod I take when fishing the streams in southern Alberta. The Oldman, the Waterton, the Crowsnest. It’s the best casting rod I have, likely because I spent the most money on equipping it with good fly line.

My 8 weight is my big fish rod, the one I most often use for Pike from the boat. It has served me well. It has hooked and landed many Pike. The stiffer backbone of this rod is great for casting heavy streamer flies in the Saskatchewan wind and for battling big fish (including my personal best 46″ Pike). Most of the time it is hooking and landing the average sized 24″ to 30″ Pike of our lake at our Cabin.

How to Get to 1000

I have a number of fishing options. By boat, I can be at the best Pike spot on the lake in 5 minutes. I will sometimes pull out a Walleye there, a rare treat. 5 minutes from home I can bike to the Trout Pond at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm or 5 minutes driving to the Trout Pond at the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation. A good outing could be 5 small Rainbow Trout. Some really good summer evenings have produced 20 fish landed. Southern Alberta for the annual trip will be a spectacular scenery adventure with 200 casts and 5000 steps per fish, except for this coming trip, it’s gonna be awesome. Then there is the dock, almost guaranteed win each and every time. There are few other spots on the lake where I can expect to catch fish. One of them I have named the Last Call. It’s spot just around the point from our cabin, good for Perch, on the way back from the rest of the lake. If it was a slow day on the water, I can go there and catch some Perch so I can say I caught fish from the boat. Ice fishing here is slow, but I do it, sometimes just to say I did it, because I could. A good day is multiple fish, often a 50:50 split of Pike and Walleye. Some days are 0:0.

As I said, I could get to 1000 fish from the dock, 1000 Perch on my 4 weight fly rod. But it’s not worth it without some variety, without a good mix of species and a good mix of locations.

I plan to a post a updates, at 700 fish, at 800 fish, at 900, and if I get to 1000.

First Fishing Trip of the Season

June 19, 2026 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing, Life at the Cabin, Outdoors

You wait a long time for the first fishing trip of the season. In Saskatchewan, for me, that means from mid to late October until usually early May. With ice still on the lake in mid-May, the first fishing trip was pushed well past the official opening date of May 5th. Add some boat engine problems to the equation and it was second week of June before the first casts were launched from the boat.

You will notice in this post, a profound lack of fish pictures. That is because there was a profound lack of fish caught. We fished hard. The fish did not play along. Here is the best fish of the 3 days.

A quick recap, we had to stop at the “Last Call Perch Hole” a few times just to reach double digits for the days. Perch was the only volume fish we managed to catch consistently.

We fished very stained water. A high volume of runoff has filled the lake with a lot of silt and high winds in recent days have pushed it around rather than letting it settle. In places we normally have 4 to 5 feet of visibility we had less than 2 feet, often only one. The classic Len Thompson spoons, Wally Divers, jig heads, big streamer flies, and all other manner of lures were thrown at the water.

We fished all the fish producing spots that have been mediocre to good over the past couple years. Tried a few promising spots that the fish finder said were holding fish.

The end result was that we spent some time on the boat, beside the fire, ate Moose stew and Elk tenderloin, listened to tunes, retold many lies about our days in high school and since. The fishing was poor, the company was great. We will do it again.

A Sea-Doo Makes a Terrible Kayak

June 12, 2026 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing, Life at the Cabin

If ever you find yourself astride a Sea-Doo with a paddle in your hands there are two conclusions you will quickly discover for yourself:

something has gone wrong
A Sea-Doo makes a terrible kayak

It will occur in that order as well. No one in their right mind would set out from shore on a Sea-Doo with only the intentions of paddle-based propulsion. Obviously there is a story.

My boat was not working, but that is not the something gone wrong mentioned above, just a contributing factor to the situation. Regardless of no boat, I wanted to go fishing. I have two Sea-Doos. I have managed to catch fish from those Sea-Doos before. Perch while drifting along the shore and casting back is a fun way to spend a bit of time. Add a light-weight flyrod and it’s a pretty fun time. Last summer I decided to take it up a notch and fish for Pike, on a flyrod, from my Sea-Doo. It was a success, so, without a boat, I was determined to replicate the feat.

Flyrod, one gaudy Pike streamer (the Go Go Kershaw), and my hook extractors and I set off on my Sea-Doo to one of the good Pike spots, early Sunday morning (slowly, so as to not wake the neighbours). It was quiet. The water had just a ripple from the light hint of a breeze from the East by North-East. I motored to my spot, shut off the engine, spun around in my seat and began to cast. The water was still pretty stained from Spring run-off and a big wind the day before so finding the weed bed edge and the drop-off I like to fish was a bit of a guessing game. When 1/2 the casts were coming back with weeds, it was time to move out a bit towards deeper water, hopefully the edge. Push the Start button – “whir, whir, whir”, and that’s a slow “whir, whir, whir” sound. Low battery power. Not gonna start. See #1 above, something has gone wrong.

That’s an early- season type problem. Thought the battery was well charged. The answer is not.

Current time: approximately 7:15 am. Number of boats in sight: 0. Number of people in sight on their docks: 0. Distance to cabin: much to far to swim. I was closest to the north shore, but the hint of a breeze was now a light breeze. Enough to push me slowly, too much to kick paddle against. I estimated it would take about an hour to drift to the other side, where there is a boat launch, where I was most likely to find someone who could help. Positioning myself on the back of the Sea-Doo platform, I started to kick-paddle. The increase in speed was marginal. 370 kg of deadweight (the Sea-Doo, sitting low in the water, plus my own body for ballast, was quite a hunk of material to push with my lower legs waving up and down in the water in desperation. This was not going to be a story of success, but maybe a story of perseverance. If I could get to the other side, I could maybe get a boost, or a ride back to my cabin, grab the other Sea-Doo and tow this one back.

Ten minutes of kicking later and I glanced over my shoulder, hoping the objects on the far shoulder were much closer. They were not. Seemed I had hardly made a dent in the distance. But, like a shipwrecked island dweller, I started standing up and waving my arms. A boat! Perhaps I have been saved. I saw them change direction, in my direction, coming to help. Upon their arrival, the 3 generous souls and I went over my situation, talked about the Toronto Blue Jays (the driver was wearing a Blue Jays hat), the Montreal Expos (I was wearing that one), and a plan to get me part way there. With a rope tied to the front of the Sea-Doo, we were off.

The were gracious enough to tow me part of the way, past “the narrows”, after which I was offered a paddle, and the realization that a Sea-Doo makes a terrible Kayak.

I still had a significant distance. From the breakdown, to the tow release was about 1 km. I had another 2 km to go.

Between the tow release and the next island, my phone rang, a client with a semi-desperate need for some help, some troubleshooting.

A phone you say, why didn’t I call back to the cabin for someone to come get me? Because I was at the cabin alone. I came up here to fix the inoperable boat, still not operable, but that’s another post. I also knew all the neighbours that I had the cell numbers for were not at the lake this weekend.

So my only form of thrust was paddle, on the very bad substitute for a kayak. Needless to say, the response to my client, and the help they needed, was going to be delayed.

So paddle I did. I learned, through experience that 2 strokes on the left, then 2 strokes on the right, was the proper cadence. Any more and the Sea-Doo-turned-kayak would spin too far on direction. 1 stroke was too much time spent changing sides. 2 was the optimum, in the sub-optimum setting. The total paddling travel time was likely somewhere in the 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 hours. A bad day not to wear my FitBit.

About two-thirds of the way through my return travels that morning, I spotted a group of 3 kayakers emerging from the north bay of the lake. Their double-ended paddles propelling them rapidly, and efficiently forward. That looked like a nice way to spend a Sunday morning at the lake. A Sea-Doo Makes a Terrible Kayak.

Putting Out the Dock and Lift – High Water

June 2, 2026 / galen / Fishing, Life at the Cabin, Outdoors

Putting out the dock and lift is an annual time of great joy for me. It means it’s time to act like its summer. The boat will be launched and the SeaDoos will also find there way to the dock. It’s my goal every year to have my dock out first, and to be the last to take it in.

A Different Year

This year is a bit different. There was ice on the lake far later than usual, well past opening day of fishing season (See Spring Time is Work Time). But the time has finally arrived. I have lots of muscle at the lake to get the jobs done. Kyle, Brett, Ben, Corinne, Kelsey, Kira. I had already put out the ramp sections the weekend by myself. I was tempted to put out the whole dock by myself. Each frame section, while awkwardly shaped, is less than 45 kg so can be placed then connected. I had figured putting out the dock myself would take about 4 or times longer than with a single helper, and I had many helping hands coming next weekend. But, the lift requires at least 2 people, better with 3, so I decided to let the others enjoy helping me put it all out.

High Water

Before we go too far ahead of ourselves, I donned the waders and wandered out into the water to do a depth check. Very quickly it was obvious that the plan had to change. (The floating dock owners are feeling pretty smart this year.) The water level at the lake is higher than I have ever seen it. By about 1-1/2 feet. That meant the dock, in it’s normal spot, would be underwater. We did some quick math and removed on 10′ section from the ramp. Then we got busy.

Next came the lift. Sure is a good idea to bring some muscle to the beach.

Now we are done. Time for fishing season!

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