Fishing at Lac Cather, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec

• Overview

  Within Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec, you have Lac Cather. The surroundings are northern bush. It runs to roughly 34 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. With about 2.8 km of edge, you can try several depths in one session. You are 108 km from Senneterre. The big place round here is Gatineau, 239 km distant. No boundary runs near, so the local rules hold throughout.

• Where to Fish on Lac Cather

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Records held for Abitibi-Témiscamingue cover northern pike, yellow perch, walleye and white sucker. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. On Lac Cather a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 17°C at the top of summer and -17°C at the bottom of winter. The freeze holds for the better part of the year. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around early May. Break-up near early May, freeze-up near mid November: that is the shape of an average year. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. That is the shape of the year on Lac Cather.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing in our records says who may fish here. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. No made access is recorded, so a short walk in is the likely arrangement. A wire trace and a big bright lure handle the pike; deep water asks for a heavier spoon. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Lac Forlane sits 1.4 km off and takes the overflow. Rules at Lac Cather are worth checking on the day.