Lac Mike in Mauricie: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Lac Mike lies in Mauricie, Quebec. The bank is 499 metres above sea level. Surface area runs to about 6 hectares — small enough to read in one session. Weymontachie is the closest place, 14 km off. For a city, Saguenay is 198 km off. If this one is busy: 0.5 km out stands Lac Pat, Lac a la Truite at 1.7 km, 2.9 km out stands Lac Ernie, Lac du Pin Gris at 3.3 km and 3.3 km out stands Lac du Loup. The nearest edge is a long way off, so local rules apply throughout.

• Where to Fish on Lac Mike

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Open biodiversity records for Mauricie list northern pike, brook trout, walleye and yellow perch. Records at county level tell you what is around, not what is stocked here. Fish Lac Mike where the bottom changes rather than where it looks deep.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 16°C and January near -17°C on the long-run figures. Everything is compressed into the middle of the year. Break-up comes around early May, and the run that follows is short and strong. On the long-run averages the water opens up around early May and starts locking again about mid November. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. At Lac Mike the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. No slipway, car park or made path shows up nearby in mapping, so treat access as rough. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Check locally before you travel, because a wasted drive is a long one. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Lac Pat sits 0.5 km off and takes the overflow. None of that is settled for Lac Mike in what we hold.