Petit lac Preston in Outaouais: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Set in Outaouais, Quebec, this is Petit lac Preston. Height above sea level is 205 metres. About 1.17 sq km, so local knowledge or a boat saves a lot of walking. The margin runs to about 11 km in total. It is among the larger waters listed here for Outaouais. Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel lies 3.3 km from the water. Orléans sits 73 km out, and it is the nearest city worth the name. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Petit lac Preston

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Fish documented in Outaouais include pumpkinseed, yellow perch, smallmouth bass and rainbow smelt. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. Anyone new to Petit lac Preston should walk it once before setting up.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-run averages give July about 18°C and January about -14°C. A solid cap is the normal state through winter. The lid usually sets by midwinter and gives way around late April. The season between ice runs from about late April to late November. The open run goes from the thaw to the freeze, and April through October covers most of it. Petit lac Preston runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing in our records says who may fish here. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. No built facilities appear in mapping around this water. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Where the road in crosses private land, ask first. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Lac a la Truite sits 1.2 km off and takes the overflow. Rules at Petit lac Preston are worth checking on the day.