Lac Ballais, Quebec: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Lac Ballais stands in Côte-Nord, Quebec. Country round the bank runs to northern bush. At 2 hectares it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. Most waters listed here for Côte-Nord are larger. Port-Cartier is the closest town at 97 km. The big place round here is Saguenay, 378 km distant. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Lac Ballais

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Côte-Nord records list logperch among the fish reported. It is the county picture; the agency list is water-specific. At Lac Ballais the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about -20°C in January to roughly 14°C in July. Little of the calendar is open water, so timing counts for everything. Hard water holds through the cold months, breaking up near mid May. The season between ice runs from about mid May to early November. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. Lac Ballais runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. For the perch, a small jig tipped with worm, dropped along the edges, is hard to beat. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. The nearest alternative is Lac Bernier, 0.8 km out. Where Lac Ballais is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.