Lac Ouananiche in Laurentides: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Out in Laurentides, Quebec, sits Lac Ouananiche. Land around it is rolling bush. It runs to roughly 16 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. About 4.1 km of bank, so nothing stays unexplored for long. The town to know is La Minerve, 14 km out. Orléans is the closest city, 93 km away. This one is safely inside the county line.

• Where to Fish on Lac Ouananiche

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Records held for Laurentides cover pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass and yellow perch. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Work Lac Ouananiche in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July runs about 18°C on average, January about -14°C. A full turn of seasons, with the strongest sport on either side of summer. Count the season from break-up, usually late April. Averages place the thaw at late April and the freeze at late November. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. That is the shape of the year on Lac Ouananiche.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. Public data shows nothing built here, so treat the whole approach as informal. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Provincial rules still apply whatever the bank status. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Failing this one, try Petit lac Ouananiche, 0.7 km away. Nothing on Lac Ouananiche should be assumed from this page alone.