Fishing Lac Gamelin in Côte-Nord, Quebec

• Overview

  Within Côte-Nord, Quebec, you have Lac Gamelin. Around the bank it is northern bush. At 3.55 sq km this is proper open water rather than a pond. With 15 km or so of shoreline, boat anglers cover ground the bank cannot. It is among the larger waters listed here for Côte-Nord. The nearest place of any size is Labrador City, 248 km away. Wabush lies 252 km off, Fermont another 268 km. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Lac Gamelin

  No figure exists for depth, so let the water show you. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Fish documented in Côte-Nord include logperch. Records at this level tell you what is in the area. On Lac Gamelin the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 11°C at the top of summer and -24°C at the bottom of winter. Little of the calendar is open water, so timing counts for everything. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from early June. Break-up near early June, freeze-up near late October: that is the shape of an average year. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. Lac Gamelin fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Ownership and access are not documented in what we hold. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. Nothing is mapped in the way of a ramp or car park within a short radius. 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. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Should this one be busy, Lac Jallaut is 4.5 km off. Ask locally about Lac Gamelin if anything is unclear.