Lac Contour in Mauricie: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Look for Lac Contour in the Mauricie part of Quebec. It stands 407 metres above sea level. At roughly 10 hectares, the whole thing is within casting reach of a single walk. With about 1.4 km of edge, you can try several depths in one session. La Tuque sits 49 km from here and is the nearest stop. For a city, Saguenay is 127 km off. The nearest edge is a long way off, so local rules apply throughout.

• Where to Fish on Lac Contour

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Mauricie records list northern pike, brook trout, walleye, yellow perch and white sucker among the fish reported. The list covers the county rather than this water alone, so treat it as a guide. Lac Contour repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 17°C and January at -16°C. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. Once it clears, about early May, the fishing comes on quickly. Break-up sits around early May on average, with the water closing again about mid November. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. On Lac Contour the same rules apply, with local timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Failing this one, try Lac Iroquois, 0.6 km away. Check the position on Lac Contour before loading the car.