Fishing at Lac de la Coquille, Nord-du-Québec, Quebec

• Overview

  Set in Nord-du-Québec, Lac de la Coquille is a Quebec water. The bank gives way to boreal forest. The water covers around 7.22 sq km, which puts most of it out of reach from the bank. Some 43 km of shoreline means conditions can differ from one end to the other. Across our Quebec listings, few waters are bigger. Some 48 km away sits Chibougamau, the nearest settlement. Chapais lies 63 km off, Mistissini another 100 km. This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Lac de la Coquille

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Across Nord-du-Québec, recorded fish include Arctic charr, brook trout, lake trout, lake whitefish and cisco. Read it as a county summary, not a water-by-water list. Treat Lac de la Coquille as a water to read rather than to cover.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs -19°C to 16°C. Everything is compressed into the middle of the year. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about 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. Anyone fishing Lac de la Coquille regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Keep proof of licence with you rather than in the car. Lac du Meteore at 2.6 km is the sensible second choice. Check the position at Lac de la Coquille before loading the car.