Lac Durepas Fishing in Mauricie, Quebec

• Overview

  Lac Durepas is a Mauricie water, Quebec side. Boreal forest runs right down to the water. It measures about 19 hectares, which is a comfortable size for bank fishing. Shoreline comes to about 2.7 km, small enough to learn in a day. Nearest place of any size is Leblanc, 78 km away. Saguenay sits 237 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Lac Durepas

  There is no published depth for this one, so start shallow and work out. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Public occurrence data for Mauricie names northern pike, brook trout, walleye and yellow perch. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Lac Durepas responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 16°C and January near -18°C on the long-run figures. A short, intense season is the rule this far north. Ice-out usually falls in early May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. The open-water window runs from around early May to about mid November in an average year. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. At Lac Durepas the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Access is unmapped, which usually means a farm track and a walk. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Check whether a boat is allowed before you tow one. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. The nearest alternative is Lac Aylmor, 1.2 km out. Check the position on Lac Durepas before loading the car.