Lac Belec in Mauricie: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Quebec holds Lac Belec, in Mauricie. The surface lies 369 metres up. With some 27 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. The edge runs 3.0 km or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Head to Sainte-Thècle, 31 km away, for anything you forgot. For a city, Trois-Rivières is 75 km off. Other water within reach: Lac Panache within 2.6 km, Lac Felix some 4 km off, Lac Enard within 4.1 km, Lac Meslay some 4.4 km off and Lac Marchand within 4.9 km. No border sits close enough to matter.

• Where to Fish on Lac Belec

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Open biodiversity records for Mauricie list northern pike, brook trout and walleye. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. The near bank of Lac Belec is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 18°C and January near -15°C on the long-run figures. Winter shuts the surface down for months. The lid usually goes in late April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Average temperatures cross freezing around late April in spring and again near late November in autumn. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. Time your trip to Lac Belec by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. For a change of water, Lac Panache is 2.6 km distant. Nothing here settles the position at Lac Belec for certain.