Fishing at Lac McGrey, Lanaudière, Quebec

• Overview

  Quebec holds Lac McGrey, in Lanaudière. The water sits 320 metres up. It runs to roughly 64 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. Around 6.6 km of bank, which is a long day on foot. On our Lanaudière list it sits near the top for size. Head to Mandeville, 8.2 km away, for anything you forgot. Saint-Gabriel follows at 16 km, then Saint-Élie-de-Caxton at 26 km. The boundary is near enough that local access rules are worth double-checking.

• Where to Fish on Lac McGrey

  No depth figure has reached our records, which makes a plummet useful. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Survey and observation records for Lanaudière include pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, rock bass and brook trout. Read it as a county summary, not a water-by-water list. Lac McGrey gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July to average close to 18°C, with January the cold end at about -14°C. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. Once it clears, about late April, the fishing comes on quickly. Ice usually gives way near late April, and forms again about late November. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. Anyone fishing Lac McGrey regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing we hold confirms whether access is permitted. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. Nothing in the way of made access shows up nearby: no ramp, no car park, no path. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. Should this one be busy, Lac a l'Eau Claire is 1.1 km off. The position on Lac McGrey is worth confirming on the day.