We had crews out on Dismal Creek and Rat Creek in August as part of our Arctic Grayling conservation project.
On Dismal Creek, we assisted AEP biologists by angling specific sections of the stream. These stretches were randomly selected several years ago and have been re-assessed several times to help determine trends in grayling populations in the creeks. This year our anglers managed to catch a few grayling at each site. Since the last survey , the river has changed quite a bit, most noticeably and increase in sediment levels due to fires and floods last year. We caught grayling as small at 68mm using a griffiths gnat – this is great news as it is evidence of spawning this year on Dismal Creek. A Brook Trout was caught using a CFF pattern. AEP biologists will be analyzing the data in the coming months.
On Rat Creek, our objective was to collect some fin clips for DNA analysis. We have some clips from several years ago, and we hoped to compare these to more recent samples to see if any changes occurred since the beginning of the project. Unfortunately, despite several days of angling only one small grayling was caught on Rat Creek. Some beaver dams were present at the lower sites and water temperatures were slightly higher than upstream. Northern Pike were observed at multiple locations.
Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Alberta Conservation Association.
