Lac Ecureuil Fishing Guide, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec

• Overview

  Lac Ecureuil is one of the Abitibi-Témiscamingue listings for Quebec. Elevation runs to 320 metres. With some 32 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. Around 4.4 km of margin, front to back. You are 43 km from Notre-Dame-du-Lac. For a city, Greater Sudbury is 193 km off. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Lac Ecureuil

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Abitibi-Témiscamingue records list northern pike, yellow perch, walleye, white sucker and brown bullhead among the fish reported. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Fish Lac Ecureuil to its features, not to its size.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about -14°C and July at about 18°C, the water has a wide range to work through. Seasons are distinct, and each one fishes differently. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around late April. Averages place the thaw at late April and the freeze at late November. June through September is the settled part of the year, with the shoulders busier for fish. It holds true on Lac Ecureuil more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. Access points are not mapped for this water, which suits people who like quiet. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Parking space is the usual limit rather than the bank itself. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. For a change of water, Lac Chaumont is 1.2 km distant. None of that is settled for Lac Ecureuil in what we hold.