Lac des Piles in Mauricie: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Lac des Piles sits within Mauricie in Quebec. This is lake country bush country. This is sizeable water at about 4.37 sq km, and a boat opens up most of it. Some 19 km of bank gives room to move when the wind turns. Size puts it in the front rank of our Mauricie list. Shawinigan sits 9.4 km from here and is the nearest stop. Hérouxville is 13 km and Saint-Tite 20 km. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Lac des Piles

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Survey and observation records for Mauricie include northern pike, brook trout, walleye, yellow perch and white sucker. Take it as the county picture rather than a promise for this water. Read Lac des Piles before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July runs about 19°C on average, January about -14°C. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. The lid usually goes in late April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. The season between ice runs from about late April to late November. Late spring and early autumn carry the year between them. That shapes the year on Lac des Piles.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. There is a marina recorded roughly 600 m off. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. For a change of water, Lac Mondor is 2.9 km distant. The position on Lac des Piles is worth confirming on the day.