Petit lac Long Fishing near Saint-Raphaël, Quebec

• Overview

  Petit lac Long lies in Outaouais, in Quebec. What surrounds it is mixed forest. It runs to roughly 60 hectares — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. The edge runs 4.9 km or so, easy to work in an afternoon. Size puts it in the front rank of our Outaouais list. Saint-Raphaël sits 12 km from the bank. Maniwaki follows at 25 km, then Saint-Boniface at 36 km. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Petit lac Long

  The records we hold are silent on depth, so plan to find it yourself. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Fish documented in Outaouais include pumpkinseed, yellow perch, smallmouth bass, rainbow smelt and Iowa darter. Species recorded across the county may be limited to a few waters. Petit lac Long gives up its fish to patience rather than distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages move between -14°C in January and 19°C in July. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. The lid usually goes in late April, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Average temperatures cross freezing around late April in spring and again near late November in autumn. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. Plan around that when you fish Petit lac Long.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. Expect 1.1 km away in from where the car goes. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Season dates differ by species, so read the table. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Should this one be busy, Lac chez Medee is 0.8 km off. Where Petit lac Long is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.