Lac des Hirondelles Fishing in Mauricie, Quebec

• Overview

  In Quebec, Lac des Hirondelles falls inside Mauricie. It stands 512 metres above sea level. At about 10 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. Roughly 2.2 km of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. It is high ground by Quebec standards. Mandeville at 26 km is the nearest place to stop. Saint-Gabriel is 32 km and Saint-Michel-des-Saints 35 km. Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Lac des Hirondelles

  Nothing in our records gives a depth for this one. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Survey and observation records for Mauricie include northern pike, brook trout, walleye, yellow perch and white sucker. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. Lac des Hirondelles repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages move between -15°C in January and 18°C in July. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around late April. On average, late April opens the water and late November closes it again. June through September is the settled part of the year, with the shoulders busier for fish. Time your trip to Lac des Hirondelles by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Lac Miscou, 1.3 km away, makes the obvious fallback. What applies at Lac des Hirondelles may have changed since it was mapped.