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 Lesson in Remote Boat Repairs – Bring Extra Parts

June 14, 2026 / galen / Life at the Cabin, Outdoors

Today’s lesson in remote boat repairs was definitely a lesson learned through recent experience. The lesson is pretty simple, if the boat is in a remote location (such as at your cabin, especially your dock, not your driveway at home), bring all the parts, including extras, and smaller and larger.

It’s expensive and time wasting to have to drive 100+ km to get a few $3 parts because the dealer told you the wrong part initially, really its a lesson in any remote work, bring extra. You can return the unneeded parts at a later date, if they are expensive.

This learning experience started on the day we finished putting in the dock and boat lift. With those in place, time to launch the Sea-Doos and boat. The boat was sluggish, very heavy feeling, like it was weighted down in the back. Flipping the back bench seat up to expose the engine compartment revealed it was full of water. Several possible reasons, that I could think of.

Drain plug damaged or not screwed in. I had checked it and my wife had checked it. Unlikely.
Engine drain plugs damaged or not replaced. I’ve never not put them back in, so also unlikely.
Loose or damaged coolant hose.

I ran the bilge and that helped reduce the amount of water and I was able to get to the cabin and park on the lift. Some investigation followed and I ruled out the main drain plug as well as the engine drain plugs. When running the engine with the leg in water for cooling water intake, I could see water spraying from the right side of the engine (when facing the front). To me, this meant most likely a loose or damaged hose. I lowered my phone down to take a video of the area and I could see it was entirely something else.

IMG_0761

That the hole left behind when an engine frost plug (many other names) blows out. Likely due to a bad job of winterizing by me. I needed a part.

The boat motor is a Chevy motor, branded a Tahoe Bravo but it’s a Chevy 4.3 litre engine. I was taking my wife’s Chevy to the dealership for a free oil change so I figured I would get the part there. They did not have one but suggested Bumper to Bumper and provided me a part number. So that was my next stop and then off to the cabin later in the day for some fishing and work around the yard.

Inexpensive part. Tough spot to get at, underside of the engine, restricted area. That didn’t matter as the part spec’d by the parts expert at the Chevy dealership was the part that would fit my wife’s truck, not the much older engine in the boat. Yes, I told him what I needed it for, and he gave me the wrong part number. Of course, I only found this out when I attempted to test fit the part, on the boat, at the cabin. So it was back to Saskatoon Bumper to Bumper to get the proper part. A 2 hour round trip, plus time in store, so 2-1/2 hours of unproductive time. I did prior to the trip, call other suppliers closer but nobody had then in stock. I did think ahead a little bit. It’s a really tough spot on the engine to access. Probably far easier if not for all the fiberglass of a boat in the way, say if on a vehicle on a lift. Impossible to get 2 hands down there and to see what you are doing. So the repair process was going to be awkward and most by feel rather than by sight. So, again, thinking ahead, I bought the next 3 sizes of the part, 1-1/2″, 1-5/8″ and 1-3/4″, and 2 of each. Only a few $’s each part and much less of an expense than another trip to get another size.

After many attempts that day to get the part installed, I realized that there was no way I could think of to get enough force on the part, at the right angle, to tap this into place. I constructed a few elaborate mechanisms to hold the part in place, most consisting of a wooden stake so I could position the part, duct taped to a ratchet extension, to a socket, duck taped to the part I was trying to tap in. I simply cold not get a long enough hammer swing to provide enough force, to get the part to seat into the hole. Many other combinations of shorter shafts, and my max swing range was about 2-1/2″ inches. I gave up for the day, but began to devise new combinations of pieces and wood, and tools to try again the next day, that day was a failure as well.

Finally I decided to extend my parts search on the wonderful tool of Google and came across another part that showed some promise. It was a rubber based piece that expanded when the nut was turned.

This looked like the last possible solution, but it was Saturday evening, no time to get to the parts store, which was closed on Sunday. I had a buddy coming to town on Monday, to go to the cabin, to go fishing. So Monday morning I went to the parts store and bought the recommended size, based on the other part that I knew was the right size, plus on smaller, plus on larger. Within 15 minutes of arriving at the cabin that evening, all supplies had been unloaded and we had the part in place and tightened with a socket wrench and the boat was running, no extra water gushing out of the engine block. The Fishing Trip, which had been in jeopardy, was on. We fished. We ate well, and I was relieved, after much frustration, and an important lesson learned.

Next time I have a boat repair, or any repair of any type, at the cabin, I will have all the parts, in a range of sizes, bring too many tools, and hope I can get the repair done.

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!

Spring Time is Work Time

May 26, 2026 / galen / Life at the Cabin, Outdoors

From yardwork cleanup to taking furniture out of storage, the start of Spring is also the start of the work season. This season has seen a huge delay in getting started. I usually aim for being one of the first to get the dock and boat lift set up so that I can take the boat fishing on May 5th, Opening Day. Here’s the lake, April 28th, May 1st, then May 8th this year.

Fast forward to May 16th and my neighbour sent me a video of the blizzard currently happening. However, he did report the ice was off our end of the lake.

may-16-blizzard

Fast forward again to just a week later, May 21 and May 22nd and all was clear and the dock / lift staging was finally happening.

Got the ramp in, the start of putting out the dock, about as much as I want to do just by myself. But it did give me room to do a bit of casting and catch this mighty perch, along with some others.

But progress was made towards the delayed start to spring. The water is open! The lawn was power raked, the lawnmower is set to go. Wood is stacked, firepit is cleared.

The weather forecast for the next 7 days looks like we are just going to jump right past the lateness of Spring and right into summer. 30 degree days are coming so park the snowmobile, set up the deck furniture, and get the dock, lift and water toys launched this coming weekend.

We will add an update, or a new blog post, after this weekend once we get the dock and boat lift set up and the floaty toys floating.

Do Geese Return to the Same Fields in Spring

May 14, 2026 / galen / Goose Hunting, Hunting, Outdoors

I won’t hold you in suspense over this question. The answer is yes. If you are planning to go out Spring Goose Scouting then you should first head to the fields where you saw geese frequently in the fall hunting season. Fields that were cropped with peas, wheat and barley may still have a substantial quantity of grain in the field, spilled from the combine activity, and will bring back the waterfowl flocks in the Spring.

Spring Snow Goose Hunting

This is only relevant for Snow Geese hunting as there is a Spring Snow Goose (including Ross Geese) hunt season but not a Spring season for any other goose species, ducks, or cranes. Just like the fall hunt, you can expect to find a mixed bag of waterfowl in the Saskatchewan fields. The arrival dates will vary greatly, dependent mostly on the weather conditions as waterfowl will need access to open water and food sources. Some species, like Greater Canada Geese will be the first to arrive. Usually around the first week of March we begin to see some small groups of Canada Geese around Saskatoon. They are the hearty souls of the goose world and can stand cold weather and have the willingness to dig through snow to find the grain remaining in the fields. Lesser Canadas, Specklebellies, and Ducks will come a few weeks later. The last to arrive will be the Snow Goose flocks. Contrary to their name, they are not fans of snow and nice and will actually reverse course if the weather does not provide suitable open water and open fields. Like this Spring, 2026, the snows were arriving in early-mid April then disappeared with the occurance of two spring blizzards across southern Saskatchewan.

Spring and Fall Comparison

May 2026 compared to October 2025. I have included images from a fall 2025 article and corresponding May 2026 images to provide proof. Below we show the field from October of 2025 and then follow with the same field from May 2026. Note: some pics are from different angles.

Field 1 October 2025

Field 1 May 2026

Field 2 October 2025

Field 2 May 2026

Field 3 October 2025

Field 3 May 2026

Wild animals, such as geese and ducks are creatures of instinct and habit, with a large dose of unpredictability. While spotting, certainly you want to learn the tendencies, the normal actions of the birds you are hunting. But, always be prepared for something to change their routine. While watching one of the fields above this spring, the birds were approached by two coyotes, looking for injured or straggling prey. This caused the entire flock of several thousand birds to jump and move to another field, 1-1/2 miles away.

If you are looking for predictability, what is probably the most consistent in spring hunting is the day water spot. Figure that out and you have the back shoot of your dreams. That’s for another future article.

Hunting is Like Hitting a Baseball

May 10, 2026 / galen / Hunting, Outdoors

I love hunting. I love baseball. Let me take you on a bit of a stretch comparison as I parallel the two activities.

Practice

It should go without saying, that to be a good hunter, to be a good hitter, you need to practice shooting, to practice swinging. Practice comes in many forms, many drills, many situations. You need to practice until your routine, your movements are instinctive.

Patience, Patience, Patience

I get to spend a lot of time hanging out with hunting outfitters, and I used be a hunting guide, so I have heard many many times the how the virtue of patience will payoff for hunters. When big game hunting, you need to spend the time in the seat to wait for the right animal. Most likely, that will not be the first Bear, or Deer, or Elk, or Moose that you see. If you have been using trail cameras, or if you have been pre-hunt spotting the area, you know the potential. Patience will reward you. For a waterfowl hunter, the idea of patience comes in the form of letting the birds work to the decoys. If you pull up at 50 yards when birds are still on approach, you may only shoot the clouds. Let the birds work over the decoys and drop their feet.

As a hitter, patience is often describe as “getting a good pitch to hit”. If you are sitting on a fastball, don’t swing at the curveball. If you are looking for an off-speed pitch, let the fastball go. Some hitters look for any pitch in the location they want. Some look for a specific pitch. Both approaches will work, if you add patience to the approach.

Wait for the Right Moment

The “Moment of Truth”, it’s that time when the factors fall into place. The right animal, in your range, giving you a great shooting opportunity. Make sure your moment includes a shot you can make, in range of you and your weapon. If the moment is not right, stay off the trigger. I’ve heard the right moment described as that time when it feels like your heart is trying to jump out of your chest. Take an extra bit of time to calm down, before the trigger pull. The situation is somewhat different in waterfowl hunting. If the moment is right, act quickly.

In baseball, this is somewhat the same reaction as in waterfowl hunting. When patience has rewarded you with a good pitch to hit, time to get extremely aggressive. This is when your instincts take over to deliver the bat to the ball. Timing and bat head accuracy, the results of practice, take over.

Scouting

Preparation should take 100 times more than hunting or hitting. In hunting, choosing the location is what puts you in the best place to make your shot. Mother nature always plays a role. Changing weather and changing animal activities all can change your opportunity. The presence of a predator animal may put your hunt off for a few hours, or the whole day.

In baseball, scouting the opposing pitcher, how they pitch hitters like you, how they are pitching that game, help you understand what your best opportunity will be. Along with the pitcher tendencies, if you know the umpire tendencies, such as a high strike zone, giving an extra inch on the outside corner, etc. may help you adjust your approach. If the pitcher has a tendency to get ahead with fastballs, then tend to off-speed, choose accordingly. (I was always looking for a fastball to hit first 2 strikes).

1 Moment

Just 1 moment can make the difference in a season, or in a game. In big game hunting, you likely only have one trophy tag. Only one chance to fill your quota with the right animal. Don’t settle early for an animal of lesser quality than you know is in the area. Come the last day of the hunt, if you are looking to fill the freezer, you might become a little less selective.

In an at bat, you have 3 strikes to work with. You can waste the at bat by swinging at the wrong pitch and making an out early in the count. The patience to wait for the 1 moment will help you be more successful. But nobody bats 1.000. You are working your approach, your plan, to give you the best chance of success.

Sometimes, It Doesn’t Happen

Despite all the right steps taken, patience, scouting, practice, and more, the win may go to Mother Nature. When that animal that excites you never arrives, or never gives you the opportunity, you have to tip your hat to Mother Nature and plan for the next season. Maybe more practice, more scouting, or the timing just work out for your next hunt.

In hitting, more often than not, your plate appearance results in you returning to the dugout. Some days, that’s the way the entire game goes. Other games, your approach pays off.

Beyond the Purchase – Some Other Costs of Snowmobile Ownership

March 3, 2026 / galen / Life at the Cabin, Outdoors, Snowmobiling

The Cost of Snowmobile Ownership. It’s well beyond the purchase price or finance payments. Like anything that moves, has an engine, and is designed for recreation, there are additional costs. Most of them quite obvious, I think, but here’s what we have encountered.

Clothing & accessories. We were fortunate to already have a good supply of winter wear, ski pants, warm gloves, boots, etc. and 2 helmets we bought for quadding. I do dome ice fishing so I have a good idea what clothes are needed for a Saskatchewan winter. The only thing that we really were missing was goggles. My old ski goggles were not in very good shape so a $40 investment and we were all geared up. We could upgrade some gear. Our snowmobile has a plug in cord for a heated visor. We could buy a couple helmets with that feature built in. My neighbour has one. Sure looks handy. $200 – $550. I do strongly encourage the use of a base layer system, what we used to call long underwear, but now it’s more technical. I have mine from hunting. They are thin, light, and make a very noticeable difference. An inexpensive set for both top and bottom can be found for $50 – $60.

Gas. The owners manual says to use 91 octane (premium). That was $33 for a jug of gas last weekend. An extra gas can. This seems like a good idea, especially as most snowmobile riding is going to occur away from roads and further from a gas station. Running out of gas would make for a rather lengthy trek to the pumps. A brief search lead me to a few name brand accessories including accessory brackets and gas cans for a bit over $300. As one of the reviews on the product said, “Expensive, but what accessories aren’t!”. If we get into some trail riding, we may have to dig into our wallets for these. Once we buy a second snowmobile, I think we will just carry one emergency gas can.

Maintenance / repairs. Replacement of one of the scratchers was my first repair. I broke one in reverse. I knew to put these up before backing up, but didn’t. I found a pair at Canadian Tire on clearance for about $20. Normally these sell for $40 to $60 a pair. I learned in this case, that universal is not universal as a replacement if it doesn’t match the original. The original was also an aftermarket accessory and they have slightly different spring hole placement locations. Just enough to need a little bit of a field fix, but we got the new one installed.

When things go wrong: spark plugs. This weekend was planned to be a weekend of riding with others. One of my sons was already out at the cabin and I joined him to do some riding. He just completed his SK Snowmobiling Safety Course so that he can ride legally. The cost of this course is only $50 and can be done online. See more at sasksnow.com/safety/. His comments about it were that is was a lot more practical than the Canadian Safe Boaters Course which has a ton of maritime regulations which are not very applicable to land-locked Saskatchewan. There was some fresh snow so we were expecting a few good rides. We fired up the snowmobile and let it warm up then I went for the first ride. The sled was very boggy, very underpowered, like it was over-choking, or some other similar problem. Just no power that I knew it had. I went for a short run and then let my son ride and I could tell something was not right. I waved him over, shut it off, restarted, and suddenly the power was back. We rode for a while, taking turns, took a break for lunch and the power problem was back. After a few shut down and restarts, it was running good again. The next day I went for a good ride, but had to go through the shut down and restart again to regain full power.

Making Tracks:

When it was at full power, it was a great ride. The next day, Saturday, was a day I had been looking forward to for a few weeks. My neighbours have sleds and he has a farm a few miles from our cabins and we were going to go riding together in the hills near his farm. I was very much planning for a great day of exploration and some fun with my neighbour / friend. His machine ran great, mine didn’t make it more than a 1/4 mile from the cabins when it started bogging down again and actually stalled. I managed to limp it back to my cabin while he carried on and went to play in the snow. After some pondering, as well as discussing the performance issues with my neighbour, we are making a guess that I have one if not two faulty spark plugs and when it is running on low power, it’s only running on one cylinder. I have searched for the symptoms of snowmobiles running on faulty spark plugs and the Internet supports the idea that changing plugs will improve performance. I had a similar low power issue with my boat last spring and fresh set of plugs brought the boat back to full power. The cost of two new spark plugs are less than $20 so as a maintenance expense, pretty minimal.

Heading out for a ride:

A young Mule Deer follows the tracks:

Registration. If you plan to access any public lands, such as lakes, ditches, trails, then registration is required. It’s quick and simple at sasksnow.com/registration/. The cost is:

$150 registration fee per year
$79 (pro-ratable) insurance premium

Transportation / trailering. We have not made the plunge to a snowmobile trailer. Although, as soon as you have a trailer, you start to think about other good uses of it. Our mid-term plans are that we will buy another snowmobile in fall along with a trailer. Then we can haul the sleds to the trails or go to poker rallies. You can buy a hotel on wheels for your snowmobiles for $45,000 down to a used flatbed snowmobile trailer for about $2500 or a bit less, as low as $1000 for a used flatbed trailer, not specifically designed for snowmobiles.

Some accessories are just not necessary. Our snowmobile came with a storage pouch mounted on the center of the handlebars. It would be a handy place to store a few small items, but there is storage just behind the seat as well. It is also in the perfect position to block the display including the speedometer and temperature gauge. It’s been removed.

5 Tips on Scouting for Geese

October 30, 2025 / galen / Goose Hunting, Hunting, Outdoors

I spent a dozen years as head guide for a waterfowl hunting camp in central Saskatchewan. As the spotter, you have sole responsibility for selecting and securing hunting permission for a field where your hunters will set up for the next shoot. During that time I learned a few things about scouting for geese. Some where learned the hard way, by setting up in a field and seeing no birds on approach and others simply from years and years of observation. In most spotting situations, if you have been actively spotting for days and weeks, you will have far greater knowledge and will be able to make a more informed decision. If you are out on a Friday night looking for a Saturday morning shoot, you will have far less knowledge and there is greater risk in the field you pick.

Geese Scouting Tip #1: Timing.

How many days have the birds been in the field? Are you spotting them in the morning or evening spotting? If you have consistently seen geese for a couple days, or at least the morning and evening of the same day, most likely those birds will return to the same field for the following morning and probably the afternoon as well. Morning are more consistent than afternoons. It is after the morning feed that a flock has a chance to pick out other fields and if birds are going to bounce from one field to another, likely that will be the afternoon. If the birds are pushing 3 or 4 days in the same field, they may have reached the limit or ate up most of the grain and will be moving fields soon.

Geese Scouting Tip #2: In-Bound Flock Sizes

Did the birds arrive in 1 flock or many smaller. If you saw the birds arriving at the field, did the flock on the ground build gradually? Ideally you will want a flock that arrives in many smaller groups. As the number of birds in the air increases, so too does the number of eyes looking down at your decoys and blinds. Too many eyes increases the chances of seeing something that sets off the alarms. Small groups arriving over time give you time to shoot and reload while other groups are still far enough away to not be scared off by the sounds of gunfire. A break between groups also gives the dogs a few moments to round up the dead birds on the ground.

Geese Scouting Tip #3: Variety

Are you hunting one species or mixed bag? Are the any ducks in the field? Simply put, more variety equals more certainty of opportunity to shoot. Snow Geese, Canada Geese, ducks, and Specklebellies may all have their own roosts and will fly at different times of the morning or afternoon. Geese will travel long distances from the roost to the feed field while ducks will typically feed closer to the roost so having a good number of ducks in the field increases your chances even if the geese do not cooperate. If there are Snows and dark geese in the field, and one of those species skips your field, you still have chances of a good hunt.

Geese Scouting Tip #4: Location of the Roost

How far away is the roost they came from? If the roost is very close, within one field, sometimes two, then the sounds of gunfire may be close enough to bust the roost and send the geese in another direction. If the wind direction is carrying the sounds of the shotguns away from the roost, then proximity is less and less an issue with the increase in wind speed. If you trace the birds back to a roost a long distance away, and the weather remains consistent between spotting and your next hunt, then that’s a positive. But there is a significant change in weather, such as a large increase in wind or a shift in direction, or rainfall, the geese will be less likely to travel a large distance and will find a feed field closer.

Geese Scouting Tip #5: Young Birds

How many grey snow geese or how many noticeably smaller greater Canadas are in the family groups? A high proportion of young birds is one of the signals of the end of migration approaching and you will want to hunt ’em now before the weather changes. Geese flocks with high numbers of young birds, 25% or higher especially, will hold in place as long as they can, or make short migration hops to give the young birds more time to gain strength for longer flights. However, if you see a high number of these juvenile birds and there is an approaching cold front, expect to see the Snow Geese heading south in the morning, or even after an afternoon feed if the sky is clear and there is good moonlight. One last observation on young birds, they do not have the wisdom of the older birds and will often break off from the flock to check out a decoy spread and can make for some high number shoots later in the migration.

Bonus Material – Field Views

On a couple of recent scouting runs, I took a few images of some fields. Here are a few observations based on the fields. Some of these images where taken with a phone camera on high zoom so the quality is not great.

In the image below, while the total number of geese is only about 1000 (image does not show entire field), there are a good number of young birds. You can see young snows as well as young “Eagle Heads” (blue phase Snow Geese). This could be a good shoot for 3 to 4 hunters.

At first glance, the image below appears to be a small number of dark geese, too few to hunt. But at the back end of the field, you can make out a blotch of white, snow geese. Watching this field for about 15 minutes I noticed a steady stream of Snows and Canadas landing in the next field, so I went to have a look.

The next field to south was building up with a good number of Canadas.

…and more and more Snow Geese. It’s hard to make out the ducks in the images but there were a few hundred Mallards as well. This could be a decent shoot. I would recommend giving it a another day of observation if you want to hunt a big number of Snow but if you are after Canadas and ducks, its ready.

This is the next morning, the same field as the first image above. Definitely more dark geese and the Snows were about the same spread across the field.

The geese did not gather up in one large group, the were spread out across the field suggesting the field may be approaching being cleaned out so hunt this field soon.

The Trout of 1000 Casts

August 25, 2025 / galen / Fishing, Fly Fishing, Outdoors

I’m a huge fan of outdoor scenery. Trees, bush, hills, open plains, lakes, rivers, sky, deer, coyotes, birds, and fish. On a recent fly fishing trip to some of the most scenic rivers of southern Alberta, we didn’t take many pictures of the fish. It was a fishing trip, primarily, when we started. The consolation prize was spending 4 days in some beautiful scenery and walking away with some some outstanding images of the scenery, and some brown trout.

When I play golf, I play purely for the enjoyment of the activity. I don’t play enough to be good at golf so my score is somewhat irrelevant, and I have modified my scoring system to only keep track of the strokes that go in the hole. My personal best, achieved a few times, is 9 on a nine-hole course, and 18 on a full round. I have adapted this scoring system from spending much more time fishing compared to golfing. I don’t know of anyone who counts their casts, only the fish caught. But after my most recent fly-fishing trip, I decided that an estimate of the number of casts to catch the first fish was appropriate.

1000 casts per Brown Trout. That’s as good as I can calculate. We tried to take a guess at the number of casts we made. Cast, float, mend, mend, mend, nothing, cast. We figured about 500 per day. That makes for The Trout of 1000 Casts.

This was a good fish. A fifteen inch Brown Trout. A good fish on any day. Quite a bit smaller than the twenty incher I caught just up the river and around the bend just over a year ago, but I would have been happy to break the curse with something half the size. This was well into day three of the trip, approximately 1000 casts into the adventure. We fished the Oldman River Monday evening. This same Waterton River all day Tuesday, and now on Wednesday we were well into the afternoon before this Trout finally committed to the hopper fly.

We spent the better part of the previous 36 hours watching the occasional Brown Trout bump our flies. Rising and splashing at the back of the fly, but rarely a full scale bite, rarely that tug on the line confirming a fish has taken the fly. Hoppers flies were the most popular flies to attract some interest. We tried many others, caddis, adams, drakes, wooly buggers, and dropping nymphs under our hoppers. Most of the “action” that kept us going, and hoping, was when we could see a Brown Trout turn and follow a hopper fly downstream through the riffles, only to abandon the chase without chomping on the fly.

We ran into a few other anglers on the Waterton river, they reported similar low levels of bit action. As one commented, “caught a nice little Brown around the corner and just missed a monster”. The weather was hot, highs around 30 degrees Celsius and little cloud cover. We had hoped the early morning and evening, a bit cooler, would provide us the bulk of the action. We saw limited improvements in fish activity, a few isolated rises, but no sustained feeding.

So fish on we did, and cover ground, or water, across the slippery rocks and spending hours bracing against the currents. We tracked over 13000 steps per day, about 12000 of those in waders. We kept searching for that hot spot where the fish were feeding. Trying fast water, through the riffles and rapids, to the foamy seems, to the deep pools at the end of the fast water. Other than the weather, there was no hot spot.

What we did experience was a good time to practice scenery photography skills and appreciate the outdoors experience. Living in central Saskatchewan, we don’t the same topography and the same types of water features. 1000’s and 1000’s of lakes and rivers, yes, and I will fish as many of them as I can. But southern Alberta offers the lure of several wild Trout species to be caught in the flowing waters, including my favorite, Brown Trout. I didn’t go back without landing at least one of these species, and missing a few others I should have caught (that’s just how fishing goes). At most of the stops on the rivers, I risked the possibility of dropping my phone in the flowing water and captured some images worthy of my laptop wallpaper and sharing with friends and family. I have a gallery of some of my favorites below. Hope you like the visuals as much as I do.

Waterton River

Oldman River

2021 Make Plans for the Outdoors

January 4, 2021 / galen / Camping, Fishing, Hunting, Outdoors

As we all know, 2020 was not a good year for many activities, many businesses, and many people. With 2020 in the rear view mirror, we can now look forward to plans for 2021 and making plans for finding a way to enjoy our favourite outdoor activities. In 2020 we were bombarded with terms such as pandemic, social distancing, restrictions, and more. These are all still relevant, likely quite deep into 2021. So we can’t forget about critical health safety measures, but we can safely get involved in hunting, fishing and camping activities in 2021.

The group gathering guidelines are a moving target so we will simply say make sure you know the guidelines for your province. Knowing that, you can still make plans for getting outdoors in 2021. When you get right down to it, getting out on the ice, out on the lake, out in a field, or in front of a campfire, can all be done safely and keeping our distance from other groups.

Sometimes the reality of the situation can be a bit discouraging. I’d like to plan my spring fishing trip up north with our regular group of 8 to 10 fishing buddies. Reality is that we can’t plan this way, but we can make plans with our own families to get outdoors. So maybe the groups are smaller, but for good reason, so that we can get back to our larger group activities soon, and safer.

I often spend a number of days in the fall, getting to the field 2 hours before dawn, laying out four or five hundred decoys, setting up the blinds, and knocking down a mixed bag of snow geese, ducks, and Canada geese, maybe even a prize specklebelly goose. I don’t have the manpower within my family circle to do as often, but with with myself and another family member, we can put out a decent decoy spread and still enjoy a morning or an afternoon hunt. Maybe by the time fall comes to the calendar, we will have the pandemic under control and the size of the hunting group can expand. Until then, we need to stay safe to contain the health risks.

2021 and the health crisis carrying over from 2020 should not prevent you from enjoying your time outdoors, but your planning might need to be done with smaller groups.

Stay safe so we can all get together again in a better future.

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