Lac au Sable in Mauricie: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Mauricie, Quebec, is where Lac au Sable sits. It lies 460 metres above sea level. The water covers some 25 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. The full circuit measures close to 2.7 km on foot. The nearest place of any size is Leblanc, 29 km away. The big place round here is Trois-Rivières, 224 km distant. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Lac au Sable

  The records we hold are silent on depth, so plan to find it yourself. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Fish documented in Mauricie include northern pike, brook trout, walleye, yellow perch and white sucker. Species recorded across the county may be limited to a few waters. At Lac au Sable the water rewards a slow, careful approach.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 16°C; the cold one sits at -17°C. This far north the hard season runs and runs. Count the season from break-up, usually early May. The lid tends to go about early May and return around mid November. June through September is the settled part of the year, with the shoulders busier for fish. It holds true on Lac au Sable more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing we hold confirms whether access is permitted. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Petit lac au Sable, 0.6 km away, makes the obvious fallback. None of that is settled for Lac au Sable in what we hold.