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

• Overview

  Lac Sautel is a Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean water, in Quebec. The water sits 384 metres up. This is a pocket water of some 3 hectares, and every part of it is reachable from the bank. Our Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean list holds plenty of bigger water. Head to Chibougamau, 88 km away, for anything you forgot. Saguenay is the closest city, 213 km away. No boundary runs near, so the local rules hold throughout.

• Where to Fish on Lac Sautel

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Reported across Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean: northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish. At least one recorded species is protected in parts of its range; read the local rules before targeting anything. Read Lac Sautel before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July to average close to 16°C, with January the cold end at about -19°C. This is a two-season water: locked, then wide open. Break-up comes around early May, and the run that follows is short and strong. The lid tends to go about early May and return around mid November. The first weeks of open water and the last are the ones to plan for. Lac Sautel runs to that rhythm year in and year out.

• Tackle & Baits

  We hold no note on access for this one. 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. Sort the permit out before you load the car. Some ground is open by custom rather than by right, so tread carefully. The nearest alternative is Lac Manin, 0.4 km out. For Lac Sautel, the notice at the access point is the final word.