Lac Castor in Mauricie: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Set in Mauricie, Quebec, this is Lac Castor. The setting is boreal forest on every side. It covers about 5 hectares, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. By elevation it is in the upper part of our Quebec listings. The closest town, Leblanc, is 44 km distant. Then Weymontachie, 61 km, and Saint-Félicien, 103 km. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Lac Castor

  The records we hold are silent on depth, so plan to find it yourself. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Records held for Mauricie cover northern pike, brook trout, walleye, yellow perch and white sucker. County records show what lives in the area; the local agency holds the water-by-water list. The shape of Lac Castor decides where the fish sit.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 16°C; the cold one sits at -18°C. A short, intense season is the rule this far north. Ice-out usually falls in early May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. In an average year the thaw lands around early May and the freeze near mid November. From the thaw to midsummer the fishing improves week by week. Plan around that when you fish Lac Castor.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. Lac Tony sits 1.2 km off and takes the overflow. Check the current arrangement for Lac Castor.