Lac Viau Fishing Guide, Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec

• Overview

  Look for Lac Viau in the Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean part of Quebec. Boreal forest runs right down to the water. It runs to roughly 59 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. There is roughly 4.2 km of shoreline here, which is a short walk end to end. It is among the larger waters listed here for Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean. Supplies mean a trip to Normandin, 57 km off. Albanel is 64 km and Saint-Félicien 65 km. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Lac Viau

  There is no published depth for this one, so start shallow and work out. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Reported across Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean: northern pike, Atlantic salmon and lake whitefish. At least one recorded species is protected in parts of its range; read the local rules before targeting anything. The near bank of Lac Viau is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-term averages put July at about 16°C and January near -19°C. This far north the hard season runs and runs. Hard cover is dependable here; it goes around early May. The open-water window runs from around early May to about mid November in an average year. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. The season on Lac Viau rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. Access is unmapped, which usually means a farm track and a walk. For the pike, wire up and throw larger lures along the weed edges. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Lac Moise sits 1.2 km off and takes the overflow. Nothing on Lac Viau should be assumed from this page alone.