Lac Ben in Laurentides: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  In Quebec, Lac Ben belongs to Laurentides. This is spruce and muskeg country. This is a pocket water of some 3 hectares, and every part of it is reachable from the bank. It is a small entry by Laurentides standards. You are 44 km from Manawan. After that come Ferme-Neuve at 57 km and Rivière-Rouge at 57 km. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Lac Ben

  Open data we checked carries no depth for this water. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Reported across Laurentides: pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, yellow perch and brook trout. Species recorded across the county may be limited to a few waters. On Lac Ben the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate records put July near 17°C and January near -16°C. Everything is compressed into the middle of the year. Ice is part of the season here, ending near early May. The lid tends to go about early May and return around mid November. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. Plan any trip to Lac Ben around it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Keep proof of licence with you rather than in the car. Lac Banane sits 0.8 km off and takes the overflow. What applies at Lac Ben may have changed since it was mapped.