Fishing for the Big One!

I have two adolescent boys. Along with an undying love for sports, a burning passion for music, and quite the bent on becoming the funniest guy in the room, these boys love to fish. And by love to fish I really mean that they are obsessed. It doesn’t matter the time of year, where we are, or how long we are going to be there: if there is a patch of open water with a chance of fish below, the sky of possibility is opened and conversation turns to fish species, lures, reels, rods, and ultimately the best way to hunt the next family dinner. I asked them the other day if they knew much about Alberta’s fish, their diets, and their habitats, and found myself surprisingly impressed by their answers. Take the following quiz about fish in our area and see how you do!

1) Q: Where do fish in Alberta live?
A: Fish can live anywhere there is suitable habitat that includes good quality water, an agreeable food source, and protection from predators and the elements. This includes streams, rivers, lakes, irrigation canals, and, when maintained, man-made ponds and dugouts. When it comes to long-term species survival, however, it gets a bit more complicated. Depending upon the species, some fish need to migrate and have their own spawning grounds.

2) Q: What do fish in local streams, rivers, and lakes eat?
A: If you guessed plants, you are kind of right! Fish actually eat a varied diet, with the seeming mantra “if it moves and is smaller than me, take a bite.” The larger the fish, the larger the lunch: tiny fish feed on zoo and phytoplankton. Small fish feed on zoo and phytoplankton, small invertebrates, and tiny fish. Medium-sized fish feed on all of the above plus small fish, etc. As the fish size increases, so does its ability to eat larger and larger specimens. Plants are important to the diets of fish less as a direct food source but more as a home to the animals that fish like to eat. The notable exception to this is the triploid grass carp, which is a voracious plant eater; so much so in fact, that it has evolved pharyngeal teeth to aid in ripping leaves. This fish species is being used in a limited way in Alberta as a test to control weeds in dugouts and ponds. These fish are so invasive that they all must be sterilized prior to being released into any water environment; introduction into lakes and waterways is not practical for this reason.

3) Q: How many types of fish are there in Alberta?
A: Unbeknownst to most, there are several dozens of fish species that call Alberta waters home. While there are approximately 20 different species of fish commonly sought after by anglers for sport fishing, there are also over 40 other species that are not as illustrious (minnows, etc). While most species are native, there are a few non-natives that have been introduced, such as rainbow trout.

4) Q: What happens to fish when the water freezes over in winter?
A: It’s a Winter Wonderland down there! Thanks to water’s very unusual habit of hydrogen bonding, ice is less dense than water and actually floats. (Compare this with the behavior of most substances, where the solid state of the material is denser and thus heavier than the liquid state; the solid state will not float on the liquid state.) Fish lower their metabolic rates and simply travel to lower depths where the water is warmer.

5) Q: Is all fishing in Alberta for sport?
A: Although sport fishing is the largest sector of fishing in Alberta (with approximately 19 million fish caught – and most released – annually by sport anglers in the province), we also have a substantial commercial fisheries market. Harvesting in excess of 1.2 million kg of fish per year, most fish caught commercially are consumed by the local market; the rest is marketed through the Government of Canada Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. According to RAMP (Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program), species typically fished commercially are “whitefish, northern pike, lake trout, and walleye, … cisco, burbot, and sucker species.”

Enjoying the outdoors and taking an afternoon off to go fishing is a great pastime no matter what the season. More than just throwing a line in the water, however, there is a growing recognition of the importance of fish not only to the economy but also to our local ecosystems. Support, protect, enjoy, harvest, and revitalize; these are all noble and practical goals for maintaining fish populations and fisheries, both in Alberta and beyond. Octogenarians Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau had it right when they starred in Grumpy Old Men: fishing as part of the job? Sounds too good to be true!