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

• Overview

  Within Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec, you have Lac Magrie. The bank is 430 metres above sea level. Small at around 5 hectares: two anglers spread out cover most of it. Leblanc lies 82 km from the water. Saguenay sits 237 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. Nearest other option: Petit lac Magrie some 0.6 km off, Lac Bethel the better part of 1 km, Lac Jerome some 1.1 km off, Lac Fernand the better part of 1.6 km and Lac Siroues some 1.6 km off. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Lac Magrie

  No published figure covers depth, so learn it as you fish. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. County-wide records name northern pike, Atlantic salmon and lake whitefish. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. On Lac Magrie the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  On the long-term average, July reads 16°C and January reads -18°C. Long winters and short summers set the pattern. After early May the shallows warm and the fish move up. Break-up sits around early May on average, with the water closing again about mid November. Spring is short and heavy here; autumn is longer and steadier. The season on Lac Magrie rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. Nothing is mapped in the way of a ramp or car park within a short radius. A wire trace and a big bright lure handle the pike; deep water asks for a heavier spoon. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. Petit lac Magrie, 0.6 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Ask locally about Lac Magrie if anything is unclear.