Lac des Fourches in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Lac des Fourches stands in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec. It stands 643 metres above sea level. Roughly 10 hectares: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. Shoreline comes to about 3.8 km, small enough to learn in a day. By elevation it is in the upper part of our Quebec listings. Nearest place of any size is Saint-Honoré, 44 km away. After that come Saint-Ambroise at 49 km and Saint-Fulgence at 51 km. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Lac des Fourches

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Fish documented in 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. Anyone new to Lac des Fourches should walk it once before setting up.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warmest month averages 15°C, the coldest about -19°C. Ice holds for a long stretch, so the open weeks matter more here than further south. Hard water holds through the cold months, breaking up near mid May. Going by climate averages, expect open water from about mid May until roughly early November. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. The season on Lac des Fourches rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. Nothing in the way of made access shows up nearby: no ramp, no car park, no path. For the pike, wire up and throw larger lures along the weed edges. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Fishing rules and camping rules are set separately here. For a change of water, Lac Langlois is 1.4 km distant. Where Lac des Fourches is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.