Fishing Lac Ponto in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec

• Overview

  Lac Ponto is one of the Abitibi-Témiscamingue listings for Quebec. Around the bank it is spruce and muskeg. Surface area runs to about 4 hectares — small enough to read in one session. It is a small entry by Abitibi-Témiscamingue standards. Malartic lies 20 km from the water. Greater Sudbury sits 264 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Lac Ponto

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Records held for Abitibi-Témiscamingue cover northern pike, yellow perch, walleye, white sucker and brown bullhead. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. At Lac Ponto the water rewards a slow, careful approach.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 17°C and January at -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. Climate figures give an open season running early May to mid November. The strongest runs come at either end of the open season. At Lac Ponto the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  No public source sets out the position on this bank. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Bank access can be seasonal on ground like this. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. Lac des Montagnes sits 1.2 km off and takes the overflow. Confirm access to Lac Ponto locally before you travel.