Lac Long Fishing Guide, Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec

• Overview

  Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean in Quebec is where Lac Long sits. Height above sea level is 350 metres. With some 41 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. The bank runs about 3.2 km all the way round, so one visit can cover most of it. On our Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean list it sits near the top for size. 42 km away sits Normandin, the nearest town. Saguenay sits 159 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Lac Long

  Depth here is unknown, so count the lead down before committing. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Public occurrence data for Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean names northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish. At least one recorded species is protected in parts of its range; read the local rules before targeting anything. At Lac Long light and wind decide more than tackle does.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Average temperature peaks around 16°C in July and bottoms out near -18°C in January. The year here is short and sharp: a long lid, then a burst of open water. Count the season from break-up, usually early May. Break-up near early May, freeze-up near mid November: that is the shape of an average year. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. It holds true on Lac Long more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing in our records says who may fish here. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. Should this one be busy, Lac Dargoire is 1.1 km off. Signs at Lac Long carry more weight than any list.