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

• Overview

  Look for Lac Leoncel in the Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean part of Quebec. The surface lies 423 metres up. The nearest town is Leblanc, 85 km away. For a city, Saguenay is 231 km off. Other water nearby: Lac Metapesh lies 0.6 km on, Lac Arrayou a touch under 0.6 km, Lac Holnon lies 0.9 km on, Lac Sinsat a touch under 1.5 km and Lac Canet lies 1.5 km on. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Lac Leoncel

  Nothing in our records gives a depth for this one. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Records held for Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean cover northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. The near bank of Lac Leoncel is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 16°C; the cold one sits at -18°C. Water stays cold even at the height of the year. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around early May. Averages place the thaw at early May and the freeze at mid November. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. Lac Leoncel runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. No built facilities appear in mapping around this water. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Lac Metapesh sits 0.6 km off and takes the overflow. Rules at Lac Leoncel are worth checking on the day.