Lac du Gerseau in Outaouais: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  The Outaouais entry here is Lac du Gerseau, in Quebec. Height above sea level is 396 metres. At roughly 3 hectares, the whole thing is within casting reach of a single walk. On size it sits at the modest end of our Outaouais list. The nearest place of any size is Ferme-Neuve, 99 km away. For a city, Gatineau is 215 km off. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Lac du Gerseau

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Fish documented in Outaouais include pumpkinseed, yellow perch, smallmouth bass and rainbow smelt. County records show what lives in the area; the local agency holds the water-by-water list. At Lac du Gerseau the water rewards a slow, careful approach.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 17°C and January at -17°C. This far north the hard season runs and runs. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around early May. Ice usually gives way near early May, and forms again about mid November. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. It holds true on Lac du Gerseau more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. For a change of water, Lac Oscule is 1.9 km distant. Nothing here settles the position at Lac du Gerseau for certain.