Lac Arona in Mauricie: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Lac Arona stands in Mauricie, Quebec. It sits in rolling bush. It runs to roughly 20 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. With about 3.5 km of edge, you can try several depths in one session. The nearest place of any size is Weymontachie, 44 km away. The big place round here is Saguenay, 168 km distant. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Lac Arona

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Fish documented in Mauricie include northern pike, brook trout and walleye. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. On Lac Arona a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July to average close to 17°C, with January the cold end at about -16°C. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. Expect a solid lid for months and a thaw around early May. Average temperatures cross freezing around early May in spring and again near mid November in autumn. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. Expect Lac Arona to follow that timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Lac de la Chute at 1 km is the sensible second choice. Where Lac Arona is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.