Lac de la Balance Fishing in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec

• Overview

  Lac de la Balance lies in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, in Quebec. Land around it is spruce and muskeg. Surface area runs to about 2 hectares — small enough to read in one session. Our Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean list holds plenty of bigger water. Some 73 km away sits Labrecque, the nearest settlement. Pont Rouge is 73 km and L'Ascension-de-Notre-Seigneur 74 km. No border sits close enough to matter.

• Where to Fish on Lac de la Balance

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Public occurrence data for Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean names northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. On Lac de la Balance the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about -19°C and July at about 16°C, the water has a wide range to work through. The window is narrow, and fish feed hard while it lasts. The lid usually goes in early May, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. From about early May to around mid November, expect open water on the long-run figures. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. Lac de la Balance runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Keep proof of licence with you rather than in the car. If the gate is shut, Lac du Frimas at 0.4 km is the nearest alternative. The position on Lac de la Balance is worth confirming on the day.