Lac Nicole Fishing in Mauricie, Quebec

• Overview

  Mauricie in Quebec is where Lac Nicole sits. The ground around here is taiga. At about 11 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. The whole outline is near 1.2 km, and most of it is walkable. Start from Manawan, 71 km down the road. For a city, Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne is 230 km off. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Lac Nicole

  There is no published depth for this one, so start shallow and work out. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Across Mauricie, recorded fish include northern pike, brook trout, walleye, yellow perch and white sucker. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Fish Lac Nicole to its features, not to its size.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs -17°C to 17°C. This far north the hard season runs and runs. Break-up comes around early May, and the run that follows is short and strong. The open-water window runs from around early May to about mid November in an average year. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. That is the shape of the year on Lac Nicole.

• Tackle & Baits

  We hold no note on access for this one. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Lac Dumain, 1 km away, makes the obvious fallback. For Lac Nicole, the notice at the access point is the final word.