Lac Plouffe in Outaouais: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  This water sits in Outaouais, Quebec. The bank is 272 metres above sea level. At about 13 hectares, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. With about 1.4 km of edge, you can try several depths in one session. Supplies mean a trip to Deep River, 38 km off. Chalk River is 48 km and Petawawa 66 km. No boundary runs near, so the local rules hold throughout.

• Where to Fish on Lac Plouffe

  The records we hold are silent on depth, so plan to find it yourself. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Fish documented in Outaouais include pumpkinseed, yellow perch, smallmouth bass and rainbow smelt. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Work Lac Plouffe in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The range across the year is -14°C to 18°C. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from late April. The open-water window runs from around late April to about late November in an average year. The shoulder weeks of the open season are the productive ones. It holds true on Lac Plouffe more years than not.

• Tackle & Baits

  We have no record of the rules that apply on this bank. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Nothing formal is recorded here: no ramp, no car park, no marked path. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. The nearest alternative is Lac Desvaux, 1.9 km out. Where Lac Plouffe is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.