Lac Francina Fishing Guide, Mauricie, Quebec

• Overview

  Set in Mauricie, Quebec, this is Lac Francina. Height above sea level is 329 metres. The water covers some 26 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Around 3.4 km of margin, front to back. Some 35 km away sits Hérouxville, the nearest settlement. The big place round here is Trois-Rivières, 65 km distant. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Lac Francina

  Our records hold no depth for this water. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Across Mauricie, recorded fish include northern pike, brook trout, walleye and yellow perch. The county figures include rivers and lakes alike. The near bank of Lac Francina is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 18°C for July and -14°C for January. Four clear seasons, with a proper winter at one end. Count the season from break-up, usually late April. The lid tends to go about late April and return around late November. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. Lac Francina fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing on record says whether the bank is open or closed. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. A camping area sits within 1.5 km of here. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. For a change of water, Lac Pool is 1.3 km distant. Where Lac Francina is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.