Petit lac Ouellette in Laurentides: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Set in Laurentides, Quebec, this is Petit lac Ouellette. Height above sea level is 360 metres. Surface area runs to about 3 hectares — small enough to read in one session. On size it sits at the modest end of our Laurentides list. Mont-Laurier is the closest town at 13 km. Ferme-Neuve is 13 km away, with Saint-Boniface at 33 km. No county line comes close, which keeps the paperwork simple.

• Where to Fish on Petit lac Ouellette

  Nothing in our records gives a depth for this one. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Across Laurentides, recorded fish include pumpkinseed, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, brook trout and rock bass. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. At Petit lac Ouellette the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Between January at about -15°C and July at about 18°C, the water has a wide range to work through. Winter shuts the surface down for months. After late April the shallows warm and the fish move up. Climate averages put the opening at about late April and the closing near late November. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. Time your trip to Petit lac Ouellette by conditions rather than dates.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. For a change of water, Lac Poudrier is 0.7 km distant. Nothing on Petit lac Ouellette should be assumed from this page alone.