Petit lac du Chapeau de Paille in Mauricie: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Petit lac du Chapeau de Paille stands in Mauricie, Quebec. It stands 425 metres above sea level. At 2 hectares it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. Most waters listed here for Mauricie are larger. The town to know is Saint-Michel-des-Saints, 63 km out. Trois-Rivières sits 118 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. It sits well inside its county, with no border complications.

• Where to Fish on Petit lac du Chapeau de Paille

  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. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Records held for Mauricie cover northern pike, brook trout, walleye and yellow perch. County data is a starting point rather than a guarantee. The near bank of Petit lac du Chapeau de Paille is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July is the warm end of the year here, averaging about 17°C, while January sits near -16°C. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around early May. Ice clears near early May and comes back about mid November in a typical year. The middle of summer slows a little, with dawn and dusk carrying it. Petit lac du Chapeau de Paille runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. No launch point is recorded nearby, so this is a bank water unless you carry a boat in. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Bank access can be seasonal on ground like this. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. Lac Vezina, 0.9 km away, makes the obvious fallback. Nothing here settles the position at Petit lac du Chapeau de Paille for certain.