Fishing at Lac Savard, Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec

• Overview

  Lac Savard belongs to Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec. Height above sea level is 231 metres. The water covers around 1.42 sq km, which puts most of it out of reach from the bank. Some 23 km of bank gives room to move when the wind turns. Size puts it in the front rank of our Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean list. Start from Pont Rouge, 38 km down the road. Saguenay is the closest city, 110 km away. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Lac Savard

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Across Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, recorded fish include 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 Savard a short move beats a long cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warm month here averages 17°C; the cold one sits at -19°C. The ice season is long here and the open one short. Count the season from break-up, usually early May. On average, early May opens the water and mid November closes it again. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. That is the shape of the year on Lac Savard.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Ask in the nearest town if you are unsure. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. For a change of water, Lac du Camp is 6 km distant. None of that is settled for Lac Savard in what we hold.