Lac Ricken in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Lac Ricken is one of the Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean listings for Quebec. The water sits 721 metres up. Surface area runs to about 4 hectares — small enough to read in one session. Compared with other Quebec water on our list, it sits high. The closest town, Saint-Honoré, is 38 km away. It is 50 km to Saguenay, the nearest city. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Lac Ricken

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Public occurrence data for Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean names northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. On Lac Ricken the quiet end is the one worth the extra effort.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 15°C for July and -19°C for January. Open water is the exception rather than the rule here. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around mid May. Going by climate averages, expect open water from about mid May until roughly early November. June through September is the settled part of the year, with the shoulders busier for fish. Plan any trip to Lac Ricken around it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing in our records says who may fish here. No made access appears within a short radius, so plan to park on a verge and walk. 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. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. If the gate is shut, Lac des Huit Chutes at 0.8 km is the nearest alternative. Nothing here settles the position at Lac Ricken for certain.