Fishing Petit lac Martel in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec

• Overview

  Petit lac Martel lies in Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean, in Quebec. Around the bank it is boreal forest. This is a pocket water of some 6 hectares, and every part of it is reachable from the bank. The nearest place of any size is Pont Rouge, 38 km away. Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc lies 40 km off, Sainte-Monique another 45 km. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Petit lac Martel

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Open biodiversity records for Saguenay/Lac-Saint-Jean list northern pike, Atlantic salmon, lake whitefish and fallfish. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. At Petit lac Martel light and wind decide more than tackle does.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July near 17°C and January near -19°C on the long-run figures. This is a two-season water: locked, then wide open. Expect a solid lid for months and a thaw around early May. On average, early May opens the water and mid November closes it again. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. At Petit lac Martel the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether the bank is open is not something our records settle. There is a ramp at Débarcadère, 350 m out. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Rules for this water may differ from the county norm. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. Should this one be busy, Lac Martel is 1.3 km off. Check the position on Petit lac Martel before loading the car.