Lac Marois in Outaouais: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  This water sits in Outaouais, Quebec. It lies 231 metres above sea level. The water covers some 40 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. There is roughly 4.4 km of shoreline here, which is a short walk end to end. Size puts it in the front rank of our Outaouais list. The town to know is Maniwaki, 17 km out. The big place round here is Gatineau, 108 km distant. This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Lac Marois

  No depth figure has reached our records, which makes a plummet useful. This is a lake, so the margins and the first drop matter most. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Species logged across Outaouais include pumpkinseed, yellow perch, smallmouth bass and rainbow smelt. Species recorded across the county may be limited to a few waters. Fish Lac Marois where the bottom changes rather than where it looks deep.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about -14°C and July at about 18°C, the water has a wide range to work through. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. After late April the shallows warm and the fish move up. Break-up near late April, freeze-up near late November: that is the shape of an average year. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. The season on Lac Marois rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  The access position is unclear from public sources. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Nothing is listed nearby for parking or launching a boat. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. For a change of water, Lac a Monette is 2.3 km distant. None of that is settled for Lac Marois in what we hold.