Lac du Chardon in Côte-Nord: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Côte-Nord in Quebec is where Lac du Chardon sits. The surface lies 335 metres up. Surface area runs to roughly 4.84 sq km, so plan for one area rather than the whole. There is roughly 19 km of bank, more than one visit can cover properly. It is among the larger waters listed here for Côte-Nord. Head to Chute-aux-Outardes, 49 km away, for anything you forgot. Saguenay is the closest city, 197 km away. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Lac du Chardon

  No figure exists for depth, so let the water show you. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Across Côte-Nord, recorded fish include logperch. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Lac du Chardon gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Average temperature peaks around 16°C in July and bottoms out near -18°C in January. Cold dominates the year and the fishing works around it. Ice-out usually falls in early May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Break-up sits around early May on average, with the water closing again about mid November. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. The season on Lac du Chardon follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  There is no clear statement anywhere on who can fish it. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. For the perch, a small jig tipped with worm, dropped along the edges, is hard to beat. Check whether a boat is allowed before you tow one. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. For a change of water, Lac du Solitaire is 2.9 km distant. Ask locally about Lac du Chardon if anything is unclear.