North of the Yellowhead is home to Alberta's Arctic Grayling. Native to cool, clean water, the growing season of northern Alberta is short.
The expansion of agriculture, forestry, oil & gas led to habitat changes - opening the forest canopies led to warming water, and access roads increased sedimentation. Added turbidity and warmer water reduces the available oxygen suspended in water. Our grayling are in trouble as a whole, and went province-wide catch & release in 2015.
But there are many populations that remain strong, vibrant. As Fred Noddin shared in the 2015 Alberta FIshing Guide Magazine, he spent last summer doing Fisheries work through many hidden tributaries and found populations of grayling thought to be extirpated.
As we move into fall, the majority of our grayling have moved in response to the low, warming waters of late summer. They will be found stacked in their wintering pools. These pools, often staged kilometers apart, may host upward of 10km worth of that river's population, giving the illusion that there is a high population.
That's not the case.
Please, enjoy your catch but catch & release.
While anglers aren't responsible for habitat changes, it our responsibility to keep the arctic grayling that are in our rivers... in our rivers.