Lac Oeillet Fishing Guide, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec

• Overview

  The Abitibi-Témiscamingue end of Quebec holds Lac Oeillet. The ground around here is rolling bush. With some 10 hectares of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. The full circuit measures close to 1.4 km on foot. You are 102 km from Deep River. Saint-Boniface follows at 109 km, then Chalk River at 111 km. Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Lac Oeillet

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. On a natural lake the weed line and the shelf beyond it do the work. Records held for Abitibi-Témiscamingue cover northern pike, yellow perch, walleye, white sucker and brown bullhead. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Read Lac Oeillet before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 17°C at the top of summer and -16°C at the bottom of winter. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. After late April the shallows warm and the fish move up. In an average year the thaw lands around late April and the freeze near late November. Early summer and early autumn carry the open-water season. Lac Oeillet fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Failing this one, try Lac du Chardon, 1.5 km away. The position on Lac Oeillet is worth confirming on the day.