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

• Overview

  Lac Laval is a Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean water, Quebec side. It stands 614 metres above sea level. With some 20 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. There is roughly 2.4 km of shoreline here, which is a short walk end to end. It sits higher than most water we list in Quebec. Saint-Honoré is the closest place, 61 km off. For a city, Saguenay is 70 km off. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Lac Laval

  Depth remains unrecorded, so treat the first session as a survey. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Across Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, recorded fish include northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish. Some of the species recorded here are protected or tightly regulated, so check what may be targeted before you fish. Treat Lac Laval as a water to read rather than to cover.

• 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. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near mid May. The water is typically free of ice between mid May and early November. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. The season on Lac Laval follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  The access position is unclear from public sources. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Should this one be busy, Petit lac Laval is 0.4 km off. Ask locally about Lac Laval if anything is unclear.