Lac Tonio in Côte-Nord: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  In Quebec, Lac Tonio falls inside Côte-Nord. Elevation runs to 529 metres. The water covers some 19 hectares, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. There is roughly 3.6 km of shoreline here, which is a short walk end to end. Compared with other Quebec water on our list, it sits high. Port-Cartier is the closest place, 103 km off. Then Saint-Alexandre, 104 km, and Godefroy, 106 km. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Lac Tonio

  The records we hold are silent on depth, so plan to find it yourself. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Species logged across Côte-Nord include logperch. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Lac Tonio repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about -20°C in January to roughly 14°C in July. Winter runs most of the calendar, and everything worth doing happens in the gap. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about mid May. The open-water window runs from around mid May to about early November in an average year. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. Time your trip to Lac Tonio by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. For the perch, a small jig tipped with worm, dropped along the edges, is hard to beat. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. If the gate is shut, Lac de Bourdemont at 0.6 km is the nearest alternative. Signs at Lac Tonio carry more weight than any list.