Fishing at Lac des Nitelles, Lanaudière, Quebec

• Overview

  This water sits in Lanaudière, Quebec. It stands 515 metres above sea level. This is a pocket water of some 4 hectares, and every part of it is reachable from the bank. It is high ground by Quebec standards. 24 km away sits Saint-Michel-des-Saints, the nearest town. Saint-Donat-de-Montcalm lies 26 km off, Sainte-Béatrix another 39 km. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Lac des Nitelles

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Fish documented in Lanaudière include pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, yellow perch and rock bass. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. Lac des Nitelles repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about -15°C in January to roughly 17°C in July. A solid cap is the normal state through winter. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about late April. Average temperatures cross freezing around late April in spring and again near late November in autumn. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. That is the shape of the year on Lac des Nitelles.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. Nothing is listed nearby for parking or launching a boat. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Parking space is the usual limit rather than the bank itself. Some ground is open by custom rather than by right, so tread carefully. Lac Malbo at 0.9 km is the sensible second choice. Confirm before you fish Lac des Nitelles.