Lac Chabot Fishing near Leblanc, Quebec

• Overview

  Set in Mauricie, Lac Chabot is a Quebec water. It sits at 432 metres above sea level. It covers about 2 hectares, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. On size it sits at the modest end of our Mauricie list. The closest town, Leblanc, is 42 km away. Saguenay sits 208 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Lac Chabot

  The records we hold are silent on depth, so plan to find it yourself. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Survey and observation records for Mauricie include northern pike, brook trout, walleye and yellow perch. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. Anyone new to Lac Chabot should walk it once before setting up.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-term averages put July at about 16°C and January near -17°C. Winter owns most of the year at this latitude. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from early May. Averages suggest open water from about early May through to roughly mid November. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. Plan around that when you fish Lac Chabot.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. Access is unmapped, which usually means a farm track and a walk. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Provincial rules still apply whatever the bank status. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. Lac des Claude at 1.5 km is the sensible second choice. Confirm before you fish Lac Chabot.