Petit lac Carteret in Côte-Nord: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  The Côte-Nord end of Quebec holds Petit lac Carteret. It stands 380 metres above sea level. It measures some 2.82 sq km, and wind has room to build across it. There is roughly 16 km of bank, more than one visit can cover properly. Few waters listed in Côte-Nord are bigger. Chute-aux-Outardes sits 101 km from the bank. The big place round here is Saguenay, 206 km distant. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Petit lac Carteret

  Depth is not on record here, so the bank has to tell you. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Weed, then depth: that is the order to fish a water of this kind. Reported across Côte-Nord: logperch. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. On Petit lac Carteret the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 15°C for July and -19°C for January. The ice season is long here and the open one short. Ice-out usually falls in mid May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Average temperatures cross freezing around mid May in spring and again near mid November in autumn. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. Time your trip to Petit lac Carteret by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  The paperwork position is blank for this one. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Perch take small lures and worms fished near the bottom close to structure. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. Should this one be busy, Lac Carteret is 4.1 km off. Signs at Petit lac Carteret carry more weight than any list.