Lac aux Pins in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Lac aux Pins lies within the bounds of Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec. Elevation runs to 403 metres. Surface area is around 58 hectares, which gives you real water without needing a boat. The edge runs 4.3 km or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Few waters listed in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean are bigger. The closest town, Métabetchouan, is 38 km distant. For a city, Saguenay is 95 km off. Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Lac aux Pins

  No figure exists for depth, so let the water show you. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Survey and observation records for Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean include northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Lac aux Pins fishes better once you know its edges.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July runs about 17°C on average, January about -17°C. The fishing year opens late and shuts early. Ice-out usually falls in early May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. On the long-run averages the water opens up around early May and starts locking again about mid November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. At Lac aux Pins the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. Nothing formal is recorded here: no ramp, no car park, no marked path. For the pike, wire up and throw larger lures along the weed edges. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Some ground is open by custom rather than by right, so tread carefully. Lac Pascal sits 1 km off and takes the overflow. The position on Lac aux Pins is worth confirming on the day.