Lac Grimard in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean in Quebec is where Lac Grimard sits. It stands 372 metres above sea level. Roughly 39 hectares: a morning covers one end, an afternoon the other. The full circuit measures close to 4.6 km on foot. On our Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean list it sits near the top for size. Normandin at 68 km is the nearest place to stop. Albanel lies 72 km off, Saint-Félicien another 84 km. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Lac Grimard

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Species logged across Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean include northern pike, Atlantic salmon and lake whitefish. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Fish Lac Grimard where the bottom changes rather than where it looks deep.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warmest month averages 16°C, the coldest about -19°C. Little of the calendar is open water, so timing counts for everything. Winter locks it down, and early May brings it back. Average temperatures cross freezing around early May in spring and again near mid November in autumn. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. Lac Grimard runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. A wire trace and a big bright lure handle the pike; deep water asks for a heavier spoon. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Some ground is open by custom rather than by right, so tread carefully. Should this one be busy, Lac Thiel is 0.8 km off. The position on Lac Grimard is worth confirming on the day.