Lac Secretaire, Quebec: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Laurentides in Quebec is where Lac Secretaire sits. Elevation runs to 468 metres. For supplies, Rivière-Rouge is 42 km out. Ferme-Neuve lies 50 km off, Labelle another 57 km. More in the same country: Lac Blais a touch under 0.5 km, Lac Claudette out at 1.3 km, Lac Grosse a touch under 1.4 km, Lac Yves out at 1.8 km and Lac Tremblant a touch under 2.4 km. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Lac Secretaire

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Public occurrence data for Laurentides names pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, yellow perch and brook trout. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Lac Secretaire repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 17°C and January near -16°C on the long-run figures. The freeze holds for the better part of the year. The lid arrives early and lasts until roughly early May. The water is typically free of ice between early May and mid November. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. Anyone fishing Lac Secretaire regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. Nothing formal is recorded here: no ramp, no car park, no marked path. 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. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. If the gate is shut, Lac Blais at 0.5 km is the nearest alternative. The position on Lac Secretaire is worth confirming on the day.