Lac Berlinguet in Mauricie: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Mauricie in Quebec is where Lac Berlinguet sits. Everything around it is boreal forest. At some 5.69 sq km it is far too large to cover on foot in a day. The outline measures near 70 km, so a boat opens up water the bank never reaches. Few waters listed in Mauricie are bigger. Leblanc lies 48 km from the water. For a city, Saguenay is 226 km off. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Lac Berlinguet

  Nothing we hold settles how deep this runs. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Mauricie records list northern pike, brook trout, walleye, yellow perch and white sucker among the fish reported. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. On Lac Berlinguet a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July runs about 16°C on average, January about -18°C. Cold dominates the calendar on water this far north. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near early May. Expect the water usable from around early May until roughly mid November. Fish feed hardest at the start and the close of the open season. On Lac Berlinguet that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. For a change of water, Lac Milouin is 1.8 km distant. None of that is settled for Lac Berlinguet in what we hold.