Lac Dan in Lanaudière: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Lac Dan is a Lanaudière water, in Quebec. The setting is lake country bush on every side. Small at around 3 hectares: two anglers spread out cover most of it. It is a small entry by Lanaudière standards. Saint-Michel-des-Saints lies 20 km from the water. The big place round here is Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne, 95 km distant. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Lac Dan

  There is no published depth for this one, so start shallow and work out. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Open biodiversity records for Lanaudière list pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, rock bass and brook trout. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. At Lac Dan the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  On the long-term average, July reads 17°C and January reads -15°C. Winter closes the water for a while, and the reopening is worth catching. Ice-out usually falls in late April, and the weeks after it fish hardest. In an average year the thaw lands around late April and the freeze near late November. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. It holds true on Lac Dan more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. Nothing is mapped in the way of a ramp or car park within a short radius. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Access can change hands, so last year's answer may not hold. For a change of water, Lac des Orties is 0.4 km distant. Nothing on Lac Dan should be assumed from this page alone.