This year, 96 different waters were stocked with various fish across Saskatchewan. (Saskatchewan Fish Hatchery file photo/Facebook)

By Teena Monteleone

Stocked Fish Guide 2025

New interactive map helps anglers find stocked fishing spots

Dec 28, 2025 | 12:00 PM

An outdoor enthusiast is making it easier to find out where you can fish for your favourite species and how to get there.

Matt Siemens, who runs the popular website SaskLakes.ca, has been compiling all the information from the annual Saskatchewan Stocked Waters Guide for years. The stocking guide is a PDF from the Saskatchewan Fish Hatchery that shows the number and types of fish, and lists the lakes they were stocked in.

Matt Siemens is an outdoor enthusiast whose website makes it easier to find out where to locate your favourite fish. (Submitted photo/Matt Siemens)

“It really just shows the name of the water. So, it will say Musker Pond or Pear Lake, which is great if you know where it is. And if you don’t know where it is, or maybe you know a general location like 40 kilometres north of Leoville, it’s not really easy to find that if you don’t know the area and you’re not familiar with the lakes.”

So, Siemens put all of the stocking guide information into an interactive map that allows you to search by species or location. He also included the stocking history and trends, and other useful information about things like boat launch locations, photos, and fish facts.

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“It’s a never-ending project, really. I’ve been working on it for a few years now, and I just keep trying to add more information so people can find out where they can fish for rainbow trout within an hour of Saskatoon, for example, and what trout lakes are on the way,” he said.

A screenshot of Siemens’ interactive map detailing fish stocks and lake locations, among other information. (sasklakes.ca)

Stocking is an annual management tool fisheries use to help meet human demands for fishing, while also maintaining healthy, balanced aquatic ecosystems. A total of 6,396,370 fish were stocked in 96 waters across Saskatchewan this year.

“We’re blessed with a large number of lakes with a broad diversity of species contained in them. However, anglers do request additional opportunities for stocking either for lakes that are naturally void of fish or where they could potentially support fish species that aren’t native to Saskatchewan,” said Matt Tyree, director of fisheries with the Fish and Wildlife Branch of the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment.

The provincial fish hatchery is located near Fort Qu’Apelle. (Saskatchewan Fish Hatchery/Facebook)

The stocked fish include non-native trout species like brown trout and rainbow trout, as well as the most popular game fish species in Saskatchewan – the walleye. Tyree said people enjoy them for sport fishing (catch-and-release), but they are also very popular food fish.

“We have a lot of lakes and reservoirs, particularly in southern and central Saskatchewan, where walleye can survive, but they’re not able to reproduce due to things like water quality or habitat limitations.”

Images of trout brood stock skins at the provincial fish hatchery in Fort Qu’Apelle. (Facebook/Sask.Fish Hatchery)

This year, more than 5.9 million walleye were stocked. That’s because the fry generally have a low survival rate. The hatchery that produces all of the fish is located in Fort Qu’Apelle. It’s been around since 1915 and has been stocking fish in the province ever since.

The original fish hatchery in Saskatchewan. It has been around since 1915. (Sask.Fish Hatchery/Facebook)

There are about 50,000 lakes that contain fish in the province and 69 species of fish, with approximately 21 commonly sought after by anglers. Tyree said wildfires this past summer resulted in the ministry’s inability to stock a number of lakes due to road closures and other challenges.

“What we do in those situations is we look for alternative locations to put those fish that were allocated to those bodies, and then we will add them back into the stocking for the following year.”

Fortunately, anglers have Siemens’ interactive map to easily find those alternative locations.

“Considering how few people we have in the province, there’s an awful lot of amazing spots to go fishing,” he said.

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teena.monteleone@pattisonmedia.com