Fishing at Lac de la Victoire, Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec

• Overview

  Lac de la Victoire lies in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, in Quebec. Beyond the shoreline you have taiga. At 7 hectares it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. By elevation it is in the upper part of our Quebec listings. Saint-Honoré lies 41 km from the water. Beyond it, Saint-Ambroise at 48 km and Saint-Fulgence at 48 km. The nearest edge is a long way off, so local rules apply throughout.

• Where to Fish on Lac de la Victoire

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Species logged across Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean include northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. Lac de la Victoire gives up its fish to patience rather than distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Seasonal averages run from -19°C in January up to 15°C in July. The ice season is long here and the open one short. The lid usually goes in mid May, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. The season between ice runs from about mid May to early November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. The season on Lac de la Victoire rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. Mapping records no facilities at all near this water. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Take the rules with you rather than trusting memory. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Lac Keagan at 0.8 km is the sensible second choice. Confirm access to Lac de la Victoire locally before you travel.