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

• Overview

  In Quebec, Lac Nelly belongs to Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean. The ground round it is spruce and muskeg. Around 46 hectares of surface means several distinct areas to work. Shoreline comes to about 4.8 km, small enough to learn in a day. Size puts it in the front rank of our Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean list. Leblanc lies 71 km from the water. For a city, Saguenay is 190 km off. Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Lac Nelly

  Depth figures are not published for this one. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Records held for Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean cover northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish. At least one recorded species is protected in parts of its range; read the local rules before targeting anything. At Lac Nelly the water rewards a slow, careful approach.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 16°C and January at -18°C. Ice holds for a long stretch, so the open weeks matter more here than further south. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around early May. Break-up sits around early May on average, with the water closing again about mid November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. The season on Lac Nelly rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  The access position is unclear from public sources. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. Access points are not mapped for this water, which suits people who like quiet. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Look for a notice board at the entrance. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. Should this one be busy, Lac Luneaux is 2.3 km off. The position on Lac Nelly is worth confirming on the day.