Lac Benny Fishing in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec

• Overview

  Within Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec, you have Lac Benny. It lies 455 metres above sea level. It runs to roughly 15 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. Shoreline comes to about 2.5 km, small enough to learn in a day. 111 km away sits Senneterre, the nearest town. The nearest city of size is Gatineau, 281 km away. No boundary runs near, so the local rules hold throughout.

• Where to Fish on Lac Benny

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Fish documented in Abitibi-Témiscamingue include northern pike, yellow perch, walleye and white sucker. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. At Lac Benny the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 16°C and January near -18°C on the long-run figures. The ice season is long here and the open one short. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from early May. Break-up near early May, freeze-up near mid November: that is the shape of an average year. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Time your trip to Lac Benny by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. There is no recorded infrastructure here; expect to find your own way in. For the pike, wire up and throw larger lures along the weed edges. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Lac Castor, 0.7 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Check the position on Lac Benny before loading the car.