Fishing at Lac Malenfant, Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec

• Overview

  Lac Malenfant is listed under Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec. Tidal water begins 31 km from here. Small at around 2 hectares: two anglers spread out cover most of it. On size it sits at the modest end of our Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean list. 13 km away sits Saint-Ambroise, the nearest town. Labrecque follows at 16 km, then Saint-Honoré at 23 km. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Lac Malenfant

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean records list northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish among the fish reported. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. Fish Lac Malenfant to its features, not to its size.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages move between -18°C in January and 17°C in July. Everything is compressed into the middle of the year. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around 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. Lac Malenfant fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. Mapping records no facilities at all near this water. For the pike, wire up and throw larger lures along the weed edges. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Petit lac Fraser at 0.7 km is the sensible second choice. Check the position on Lac Malenfant before loading the car.