Fishing at Lac des Codrons, Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec

• Overview

  This water sits in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec. The bank is 389 metres above sea level. At about 10 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. Roughly 1.5 km of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. Head to Chibougamau, 88 km away, for anything you forgot. Saguenay sits 230 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Lac des Codrons

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean records list northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish among the fish reported. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. On Lac des Codrons a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July is the warm end of the year here, averaging about 16°C, while January sits near -19°C. Open water is the exception rather than the rule here. The lid usually goes in early May, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. On average, early May opens the water and mid November closes it again. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. It holds true on Lac des Codrons more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Nothing built is recorded close to the bank here. For the pike, wire up and throw larger lures along the weed edges. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. For a change of water, Lac Gorbio is 2.2 km distant. For Lac des Codrons in particular, ask before you travel.