Lac de l'Etourneau Fishing in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec

• Overview

  Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean in Quebec is where Lac de l'Etourneau sits. The setting is boreal forest. Compared with other Quebec water on our list, it sits high. Some 85 km away sits Saint-Honoré, the nearest settlement. It is 97 km to Saguenay, the nearest city. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Lac de l'Etourneau

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Survey and observation records for Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean include northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. At Lac de l'Etourneau the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 16°C and January at -19°C. Water stays cold even at the height of the year. Count the season from break-up, usually mid May. Break-up sits around mid May on average, with the water closing again about mid November. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. Plan around that when you fish Lac de l'Etourneau.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. Nothing built is recorded close to the bank here. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Some ground is open by custom rather than by right, so tread carefully. Should this one be busy, Lac de l'Alouette is 0.5 km off. Ask locally about Lac de l'Etourneau if anything is unclear.