Fishing Lac Joliette in Mauricie, Quebec

• Overview

  In Quebec, Lac Joliette belongs to Mauricie. It sits at 508 metres above sea level. Surface area is around 12 hectares, which gives you real water without needing a boat. Shoreline comes to about 2.1 km, small enough to learn in a day. Compared with other Quebec water on our list, it sits high. Supplies mean a trip to Manawan, 46 km off. Weymontachie is 75 km and Leblanc 79 km. This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Lac Joliette

  Depth is not on record here, so the bank has to tell you. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Records held for Mauricie cover northern pike, brook trout, walleye, yellow perch and white sucker. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. At Lac Joliette the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about -17°C and July at about 16°C, the water has a wide range to work through. Open water is the exception rather than the rule here. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from early May. Ice usually gives way near early May, and forms again about mid November. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. That shapes the year on Lac Joliette.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. A phone call first saves an afternoon. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. Failing this one, try Lac Moon, 2.2 km away. Nothing here settles the position at Lac Joliette for certain.