Fishing Lac des Matricaires in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec

• Overview

  Within Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, you have Lac des Matricaires. The setting is boreal forest on every side. Surface area runs to about 3 hectares — small enough to read in one session. It is one of the smaller waters we list in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean. Chibougamau is the closest place, 85 km off. After that come Normandin at 98 km and Chapais at 100 km. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Lac des Matricaires

  Open data we checked carries no depth for this water. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. 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 Matricaires the quiet end is the one worth the extra effort.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 16°C; the cold one sits at -19°C. Cold dominates the calendar on water this far north. Once it clears, about early May, the fishing comes on quickly. Averages suggest open water from about early May through to roughly mid November. The first weeks of open water and the last are the ones to plan for. Plan around that when you fish Lac des Matricaires.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public data does not answer the access question here. The map shows no ramp or car park nearby, so this is a walk-in water. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Should this one be busy, Lac Laroin is 1.4 km off. Treat access at Lac des Matricaires as something to verify.