ZONE 3 Northern Boreal - NB4
The Northern Boreal consists of 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 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 four Northern Boreal Watershed Units (NB1-NB4) are made of the Beaver, Athabasca, La Biche, Lesser Slave, Pembina, Peace, Wabasca, Hay, Christina, Clearwater rivers and Lake Athabasca watersheds.
NB4 WATERSHED UNIT REGULATIONS
The Athabasca River watershed downstream of the north boundary of Township 78 (near Pelican River), including the Clearwater River and Christina River watersheds, and the Slave River and Lake Athabasca watersheds, including the lakes and streams north of Lake Athabasca.
BAIT FISHING
● Fishing with Bait, including Bait Fish, in NB4 lakes and streams is allowed except at locations with Bait Bans listed under site specific regulations.
Mainstem of a river: includes the mainstem channel and any side channel, oxbows, riparian flow channels, and plunge pools below spillways.
NB4 LAKE AND STREAM LISTINGS
For waterbody specific regulations, click the links below.
NB4 - Lakes, Reservoirs and Ponds
NB4 - Rivers, Creeks and Streams
NB4 Default Sportfishing Regulations
● The names of most NB4 lakes and streams are listed alphabetically in the site specific regulation tables on the following pages.
● Smaller streams may not be listed, but may be included as tributaries to a listed larger stream.
● If a listed waterbody does not have a season listed, it is CLOSED to fishing during that period.
● If a NB4 lake, reservoir, river, stream or species is not listed, follow the default regulations below.
● General regulation stocked trout lakes are listed here.
DEFAULT REGULATIONS FOR LAKES
OPEN May 15 to Mar. 31
● Arctic Grayling limit 0
● Walleye limit 3 over 50 cm
● Northern Pike limit 3 over 63 cm
● Yellow Perch limit 15
● Lake Whitefish limit 10
● Burbot limit 10
● Trout limit 3
● Bait allowed
CLOSED Apr. 1 to May 14
DEFAULT REGULATIONS FOR STREAMS
OPEN Jun. 1 to Oct. 31
● Arctic Grayling limit 0
● Walleye limit 3 over 50 cm
● Northern Pike limit 3 over 63 cm
● Mountain Whitefish limit 5 over 30 cm
● Yellow Perch limit 15
● Lake Whitefish limit 10
● Burbot limit 10
● Bait allowed
CLOSED Nov. 1 to May 31