Lac des Polonais Fishing near Ferme-Neuve, Quebec

• Overview

  Set in Laurentides, Quebec, this is Lac des Polonais. Everything around it is mixed forest. Surface area runs to some 12.83 sq km, so a boat and a plan are both worth having. On our Laurentides list it sits near the top for size. The town to know is Ferme-Neuve, 35 km out. The nearest city of size is Gatineau, 172 km away. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Lac des Polonais

  Nothing we hold settles how deep this runs. 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. Public occurrence data for Laurentides names pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, yellow perch and brook trout. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Lac des Polonais repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 17°C at the top of summer and -15°C at the bottom of winter. Winter shuts the surface down for months. Hard water holds through the cold months, breaking up near late April. Break-up sits around late April on average, with the water closing again about late November. June through September is the settled part of the year, with the shoulders busier for fish. Expect Lac des Polonais to follow that timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Look for a notice board at the entrance. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. For a change of water, Lac Lucie is 2.6 km distant. None of that is settled for Lac des Polonais in what we hold.