Lac Bouleau Fishing near Dolbeau-Mistassini, Quebec

• Overview

  Lac Bouleau lies in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec. Height above sea level is 277 metres. The water covers some 22 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. A shoreline of some 2.8 km keeps the choices simple. Nearest place of any size is Dolbeau-Mistassini, 54 km away. The nearest city of size is Saguenay, 138 km away. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Lac Bouleau

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. County-wide records name northern pike, Atlantic salmon and lake whitefish. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. Lac Bouleau gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 17°C and January at -20°C. Open water arrives late and leaves early, which concentrates the fishing. Count the season from break-up, usually early May. In an average year the thaw lands around early May and the freeze near mid November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. Anyone fishing Lac Bouleau regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No built facilities appear in mapping around this water. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. Lac des Petits Chats at 2.7 km is the sensible second choice. Nothing here settles the position at Lac Bouleau for certain.