There are a lot of great fly-in fishing lodges across Canada. What makes Hatchet Lake Lodge different isn’t one particular thing. It’s how the entire trip comes together.
From direct charter access into our private 6,000-foot runway to four lakes accessible from the main lodge, 16 additional fly-out destinations, four trophy fish species and a staff that gets to know every guest by name, Hatchet was built to offer much more than simply a place to go fishing.
We want the entire experience to feel easy from the time you leave Saskatoon until the time you get home. Once you’re here, the difficult part is deciding where you want to fish tomorrow.
Access to 20 Northern Saskatchewan Lakes
One of the biggest differences between Hatchet and a traditional fly-in fishing lodge is the amount of water available to our guests.
You aren’t flying into Hatchet to fish one lake for your entire stay.
Directly from the main lodge, guests have access to four lakes: Hatchet Lake itself and three additional portage lakes—Corson, LeDrew and Thrift. The portages aren’t long wilderness hikes. Each is approximately a three-to-five-minute walk, with boats and motors waiting on the other side. That gives our guests four different lakes to explore without ever stepping onto another aircraft.
Beyond those four lakes, our fly-out program provides access to another 16 remote fishing destinations spread throughout the surrounding northern Saskatchewan wilderness.
Altogether, Hatchet provides fishing opportunities across 20 different lakes.
Fly Into Water That May Only Be Fished a Few Times All Summer
Our fly-out program is one of the experiences that truly separates Hatchet. The 16 destinations aren’t simply a list of lakes that we fish every day throughout the summer. We continually evaluate the fishing and open or rest destinations based on the quality of the experience we’re seeing.
Typically, we’ll have eight or nine fly-out options available at any given time. Some of these lakes may only be fished a few times over the course of an entire summer. We even have destinations that haven’t been fished by our guests in more than a decade that we’re looking forward to getting back into. This creates a completely different experience from fishing heavily traveled water. You’re getting into a Turbo Otter and heading even farther into northern Saskatchewan to fish water that sees exceptionally little fishing pressure.
What a Hatchet Fly-Out Day Is Actually Like
Fly-outs are an optional addition to a Hatchet trip and are not included in the standard package. Depending on the number of fly-outs scheduled that day, departures generally take place between 7:30 and 9 a.m.
Our dock staff and guides take care of loading the equipment and supplies needed for the day into the aircraft. The one thing you won’t bring with you is the fish for lunch—you’ll catch that when you get there.
Groups of up to six guests board our Turbo Otter and fly to one of our remote destinations. Once you’re there, you have approximately eight hours to fish.
At the end of the day, the Turbo Otter returns to pick you up and bring you back to the main lodge.
But choosing a fly-out isn’t simply picking a lake from a list. Every destination has its own personality. If you tell us you want to spend the day specifically targeting trophy northern pike, we have lakes we favour for that. If you want to go somewhere and catch a pile of walleye, we have options for that too.
Other destinations offer opportunities for lake trout, Arctic grayling or combinations of species.
Each lake is unique, and that’s a major part of the fun.
You Don’t Have to Fly Out to Experience Incredible Fishing
The fly-out program gets a lot of attention, but it’s important to understand that some of Hatchet’s best and most diverse fishing is available directly from the lodge.
Hatchet Lake is an exceptional multi-species fishery. Walleye fishing is fantastic, along with excellent opportunities for northern pike, lake trout and Arctic grayling.
One of the most unique areas is where Hatchet flows into Corson Lake. Within roughly a mile, it’s possible to catch all four of our major species—walleye, northern pike, lake trout and Arctic grayling. For someone hoping to complete a Canadian fishing Grand Slam, there aren’t many places where you can pursue all four in such a concentrated area.
The short boat rides are also part of what makes Hatchet special. You don’t necessarily need to spend an hour traveling before you start fishing. Some of the experience we’re known for happens remarkably close to the lodge.
New Boats Built Around the Fishing Experience
For the 2026 season, we introduced a new fleet of G3 177 Outfitters powered by Yamaha 50 HP four-stroke motors on our main lake. They’re comfortable, capable fishing boats designed for the type of water and fishing we experience at Hatchet. Our goal with equipment is the same as it is with the rest of the lodge: remove unnecessary friction from the guest experience.
- Your guide has the boat ready.
- Your equipment is organized.
- You step aboard and go fishing.
A Fishing Trip Planned Around What You Want to Do
With access to this much water, we don’t believe every guest should follow exactly the same fishing plan.
Every evening during dinner service, our lodge manager, Clay, makes a point of sitting down with our guests. He wants to know how your day went. More importantly, he wants to know what you want to do tomorrow. Maybe you caught plenty of walleye today and want to spend tomorrow looking for a trophy pike. Maybe you’ve never caught an Arctic grayling. Maybe you want to explore one of the portage lakes. Maybe you’re interested in a fly-out.
That information gets passed along to our guides so they can plan the following day around what each group is hoping to experience. It’s a small part of how Hatchet operates, but it makes a big difference over the course of a trip.