Lac Real Fishing near Rivière-Rouge, Quebec

• Overview

  Lac Real is one of the Laurentides listings for Quebec. The surface lies 463 metres up. The nearest place of any size is Rivière-Rouge, 36 km away. Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne is the closest city, 141 km away. What else is close: Lac Walton at 0.7 km, Lac Bruce some 0.8 km off, Lac Andre at 1.8 km, Lac Inconnu some 1.9 km off and Lac Joce at 2.2 km. It lies deep inside the county rather than near an edge.

• Where to Fish on Lac Real

  No depth figure has reached our records, which makes a plummet useful. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. County-wide records name pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass and yellow perch. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. On Lac Real the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 17°C in July and bottom out at -16°C in January. Open water arrives late and leaves early, which concentrates the fishing. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near early May. On the long-run averages the water opens up around early May and starts locking again about mid November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. Lac Real runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public data does not answer the access question here. Mapping is blank for access, so scout the approach before committing the car. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Failing this one, try Lac Walton, 0.7 km away. None of that is settled for Lac Real in what we hold.