Lac Rusty in Mauricie: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  You will find Lac Rusty in Mauricie, Quebec. The water sits 421 metres up. Small at around 10 hectares: two anglers spread out cover most of it. A shoreline of some 1.5 km keeps the choices simple. Head to La Tuque, 55 km away, for anything you forgot. Trois-Rivières is the closest city, 122 km away. Rules here are straightforward: one set of provincial rules.

• Where to Fish on Lac Rusty

  We hold no depth figure for this one. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Records held for Mauricie cover northern pike, brook trout and walleye. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. At Lac Rusty the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs -16°C to 17°C. The year runs cold to warm and back, with clear transitions. The open season starts with the thaw, near enough late April. Climate averages put the opening at about late April and the closing near mid November. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. Anyone fishing Lac Rusty regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Our records carry no access rule either way. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Parking space is the usual limit rather than the bank itself. Access can change hands, so last year's answer may not hold. If the gate is shut, Lac Duff at 0.8 km is the nearest alternative. Treat access at Lac Rusty as something to verify.