Lac Montanier near Malartic: Fishing Spots, Seasons and Access

• Overview

  Look for Lac Montanier in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue part of Quebec. Height above sea level is 335 metres. With some 30 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. The edge runs 3.8 km or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Malartic sits 30 km from the bank. For a city, Greater Sudbury is 256 km off. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Lac Montanier

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Records held for Abitibi-Témiscamingue cover northern pike, yellow perch, walleye and white sucker. County data is a starting point rather than a guarantee. At Lac Montanier the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 17°C; the cold one sits at -17°C. Cold locks it up for a good stretch each year. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near early May. Climate figures give an open season running early May to mid November. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. Lac Montanier fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. For the pike, wire up and throw larger lures along the weed edges. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Should this one be busy, Lac De Chabert is 1.9 km off. What applies at Lac Montanier may have changed since it was mapped.