FISH ALBERTA FOR NEW ANGLES

Fishing is very popular in Alberta, both with Albertans and visitors and with good reason. The province has beautiful lakes and rivers, fantastic scenery and productive fishing offering 50 species of fish. You could get hooked on any of Alberta's 600 lakes, 245 named rivers or 315 named creeks.

Rated as one of North America's top 10 trout steams, the world-famous Bow River is loaded with brown and rainbow trout.

Most of Alberta's fly-in fishing lodges are in the north, on pristine lakes full of back snapping northern pike, perch, walleye, lake trout and Arctic grayling.

In central Alberta, on numerous lakes from Gull to Buck, you'll catch northern pike, walleye, perch and lake whitefish.

Easy spots to haul in trout, burbot, northern pike and yellow perch are in the south - the Crowsnest River, the Oldman River, Travers Reservoir and West Castle River.

The more popular fish species in Alberta are lake trout, northern pike, walleye, Arctic grayling, rainbow trout and yellow perch. Many additional trout species are available: brown trout, bull trout, brook trout, cutthroat trout and golden trout. Add to that list the following and a great selection of opportunities are available: burbot, lake sturgeon, mountain whitefish, lake whitefish, goldeye, mooneye and sauger.

Albert is divided into three (3) Fish Management Zones with four (4) national parks within the boundaries of the province. Each zone is divided into watershed units to expand on specific regulations established to meet water body and fish population needs.

(1) Eastern Slopes Zones: Zone One (1) consists of the mountains and foothills that form the "Eastern Slopes" along the Rocky Moutons from Montana to the Grande Prairie Region. throughout this zone, tributary creeks flow into larger streams, which in turn are tributaries to major rivers. These watersheds, with their alpine and foothills lakes, their clear, cold rivers and tributaries support numerous trout and mountain whitefish populations, as well as Arctic grayling in the north. The four Watershed Units in this zone are: (1) The Oldman and Bow Rivers, (2) The Red Deer and North Saskatchewan Rivers, (3) The Atahabasca and Pembina Rivers, and (4) The Smokey River.

(2) Parkland Prairie Zone: Zone Two (2) consists of approximately the southeastern quarter of the province, east of Highway 2 from the Montana border to the North Saskatchewan River. Four major rivers that start in the mountains flow through the Parkland-Prairie. For most of the summer, these rivers are large, silty and warm. Shallow lakes and reservoirs are also found in the Parkland-Prairie. The most common game fish of the zone are yellow perch, northern pike and lake whitefish, although walleye have been introduced into several reservoirs. Rainbow trout are stocked into many ponds and small reservoirs throughout the Parkland Prairie. Zone two is subdivided into two watershed units.

(3) Northern Boreal Zone: Zone Three (3) A vast area of central and northern Alberta consists of boreal forest. Throughout the boreal forest, many of the streams are low gradient brown water streams from muskeg drainage's. These streams are tributaries within larger watersheds, which in turn are part of the major drainage basins of the Athabasca, Peace and Hay Rivers. The majority of the lakes in Alberta occur in the boreal forest zone. The popular game fish of the zone are yellow perch, northern pike, walleye, lake whitefish, Arctic grayling and lake trout. Zone three is subdivided into four watershed units.

Dive the un dived, paddle the unvisited or fish for new angles - Alberta lets you make ripples or roars in its waters. Visit Alberta for a new angle.

ALBERTA MAPS AVAILABLE

Selective harvest, with a strong foundation of "Catch and Release", is the policy we advocate at FISHING MAPS "PLUS". Many anglers wish to eat some fish, and why not? They are nutritious and "umm", good tasting. If selective harvest is practiced, then the resource is renewable. The modern-day approach is to keep more numerous pan fish before less abundant larger predators, and keep smaller, more abundant fish of a species before larger, less abundant ones.