Poutrincourt Quebec

[krux5506]

I am heading out on a family trip Friday to fish Poutrincourt Quebec for a week. I've never been to Quebec but luckily the rest of my group has fished here over the years and always do extremely well with walleyes. Last time they went a couple years ago their numbers were over 300 for the week, and these are guys who don't fish a whole lot...

Has anyone else been to this lake?

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Edited July 20, 2016 by krux5506

[EsoxAC3]

I have never heard of it but it sounds like outstanding fishing.... Quebec is home to so many great fishing lakes. Many of the lakes are remote and the fishing pressure is extremely low... genetics and lots of forage provide a recipe for big and plentiful fish. Everything in Seems bigger in Quebec... The black flys, the tadpoles, and yes the fish. My dad used to take me fishing north of Maniwakee as a kid. Great fishing. Good memories. Good luck and have fun!!

[Xxx]

I have fished portincourt, the camp ownes name is Andre, he smokes a pipe. That lake is awesome walleye lake, it's nothing for a 60-70 fish a day, we stayed in cabin or 8 it's the cabin along side the river that goes up to cabin 7 that's the farthest from the lodge and is on a differant lake but still fishable as that's part of Andre's lease. It is a very good day time bite. You will do well with harnesses and very well fishing leeches under a slip bobber, there are some smallies nice size perch, a buddy of mine brought a 50 3/4" northern out of there. They have ice houses up there with 1'x1' blocks of ice covered with saw dust for insulation. Ours didn't have much as we went in August also and the fishing is a tad slower, but bigger eyes. So we needed to get this fish frozen, so we went to this logging town to put the fish in a freezer. The whole lake is not deep like 40ft is the deepest we found over the years going there, the upper camps are pretty far from the lodge so he gives you the first can of gas as you will need to boat all your goodies to your cabin, this takes time as you will follow the guide to your new home for a week. The pike we caught were in the weeds, so my partner would through a Johnson silver minnow with a white twister tail into the weeds and bring the pike out of the weeds then I would use a stick bait and cast to where the fish is and game on!!! Look for deeper pockets or a shelf and the eyes lay in those areas. It's a beautiful place up there, the best walleye lake I fished in Canada, not like Erie size eyes but good eaters 18"-24" anyway. I don't know if there's a slot there, they did incorporate a slot in Lake O'Sullivan, and if my memory serves me right that was the slot. Be prepared for a 18hr ride. We split it into 2 day we left early Friday morning and got 3-4 hrs away then drove the rest Saturday, as you can't get int your cabin till afternoon. Hey have fun and fish that river it's tricky you got to hit the river full blast and as soon as you get to the top you have to hook a hard left as there is a big rock from the middle to the right, so stay left. Fish that upper lake it doesn't get fished as hard as the main, OOh it's like a little set of Rapids to get up the river. I never got into that lake as I was catching eyes like mad on our way up the river!!! Hope it's not as hot for you as our last trip in August we nearly died I went in the lake to cool off. Feel free to ask more if need be. PAP

[krux5506]

Great info Pap, thanks!! These other guys I'm going with have been there before and I think they typically jig for the eyes. I have heard lots of stories from them and I figure it's about time I joined them this year. I'll be bringing my 17' Lund so I'm not sure if I'll risk bringing it up any tight river areas but we'll have the smaller rental boats for the other guys as well so we'll see. Good info on the pike too, I've seen pics of monsters caught outta there and wasn't sure if they'd be deep or not. Ourq weather is looking good temp wise, mid 70s all week but there's gonna be some rain. I think I'd rather have some rain than 90+degrees though anyway. Interesting to hear there's perch and smallmouth there as well, the guys in my group seemed insistent it was only walleye, pike, and white fish (whatever that is..) I'm told we will eat very well that week!

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[EsoxAC3]

Where is this lake located ?

[krux5506]

I believe either in or near Chibougamau Quebec. I can't say for sure, luckily I'm not driving.

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[EsoxAC3]

I just looked at the website.... Looks like a blast.... Sounds like they catch some monster northerns there. Have a great time!!

[Xxx]

Yes that is correct you run up 117, then you turn right you'll see the signs for chabougmau. It's all hard road now, except a short distance on dirt to the lake. Also Krux, they are right about jigging, wind will vary the jig size, I use a 1/16 oz jig or 1/8 oz take some 1/4 oz in case it blows like hell, I only use orange jigs with a wire hook, no twister tails just tipped with a piece of night crawler, and that's the only way you can get into those deeper pockets. Perch colored lures,and with the crawler harneses I never saw a pattern that out performed the other. Colorado blades size 4-5. The lake is stained dark brown, so take the match the hatch or go with out of the theory. You could use a quart zip lock bag for a tackle bag 1/16 1/8 oz jigs about 50 of each couple of silver Johnson weedless spoons black/silver baits stick baits black/silver and green/tiger and fire/tiger split backs, and a few crawler harnesses. We buy a flat of night crawlers in approved bedding!! No dirt and leeches and keep them in that Frabill leech container, keep it simple and you'll do well!!

[krux5506]

Good tips Pap. Our guy who organizes everything has the bait situation all planned out. He pre orders 1000 night crawlers for the whole trip from a bait shop in A-Bay which we get on the way up. I forget how many jigs he gets, I'll bring a bunch anyway. Would it make sense to tie any? Marabou or bucktail? Or does just a worm on a jig do the trick?

I've heard stories of the pike trying to latch onto walleye as they are being caught/reeled in. The bass fisherman in me makes me want to try and chuck a few big swimbaits, both soft and hard and see if it will get a reaction from those violent pike.

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[Xxx]

Good tips Pap. Our guy who organizes everything has the bait situation all planned out. He pre orders 1000 night crawlers for the whole trip from a bait shop in A-Bay which we get on the way up. I forget how many jigs he gets, I'll bring a bunch anyway. Would it make sense to tie any? Marabou or bucktail? Or does just a worm on a jig do the trick?

I've heard stories of the pike trying to latch onto walleye as they are being caught/reeled in. The bass fisherman in me makes me want to try and chuck a few big swimbaits, both soft and hard and see if it will get a reaction from those violent pike.

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Absolutely, the 51"er that Mike caught nailed the 24" eye I was reeling in, he switched over to a silver red eye, the pike hit his red eye and put on one hell of a fight, then he just layed on to the water till he saw my net, but he snoozed so he loses, thats the fish we took to the loggers camp to put it in a freezer. This other time dad and I had a stringer of eyes maybe 3-4 hanging in the water while we were still fishing with a slip bobber when I noticed this hog pike eyeing up our stringer when I noticed he had a hook and line hanging out of his mouth. Dad said I could be ours as he swam towards us so the bobber didn't go under, as soon as the fish and I realized we had him it was game on. That pike snapped the pole off right over my hand we still got him in, he just laid on top the water, I bet you couldn't reach from eye to eye that's how broad his head was, Mike said he would would net it and he did, the fish went in head first and he thrashed around in the net and out the bottom of the net he went, and the hook pulled, mother F¥<>€~\| he's gone!!! Mike could of died. The fish ripped a hole in that net I could fit my head through. The net measured 49" in depth and we all agreed that 6" still stuck out the top. That was a fish of a lifetime!! Oh well there's more maybe some day.

[EsoxAC3]

This lake has made my bucket list, lol

[jk1]

Been up to the chibougamau area 60-70 times since the early '80.  Can't argue with his advice.  But do move around constantly until you find good fish.  Try different lakes and as he advised hit those rivers with the small boats that you can hand launch.  Our favorite boat was a 16 foot car top, super lite and we had two engines a 6 and a 15 for small and big water.  Go where other people can't with their big boats for big fish.  Look at maps carry the  in to hidden  spot.  My best day was walleyes and the best pike day was 35 but I never even saw 50 inch fish.  Try the fly rod too.  My biggest pike was 45 1/2.  We took a 40+ on most trips.  I kept a big tackle box in the cabin and a very small one with me

[krux5506]

Just got back yesterday, final numbers for the group were 434 walleye, 26 pike, 4 perch, an umbrella and about 17 cases of beer. The weather was complete crap nearly the entire week besides our first full day which was Sunday. Other than that it was constant on/off showers, lots of wind, a good hail storm and plenty of lightning. Plenty of keepers though and they were fantastic eating.

Nothing too crazy in the way of lunkers - one 40" pike at 15lbs, and a couple 26" walleyes and numerous over 20" but the majority were right in Poutrincourt's slot size of 12-18" with most being 15-16"

Overall it was a great time despite the weather conditions. Temps were in the upper 50s and into the low 70s here and there when the sun decided to come out a few times throughout the week.

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[Xxx]

That's not to bad considering what Mother Nature threw at ya, certainly not good by a long shot. We had much better weather, one thing we noticed by going in the "after" season, is we had much better quality and not the quantity, plus the price is reduced from the main hot time of the year May,June. I hope that I didn't give ya's picture that wasn't met by your standards, if so I apologize!!! Did anyone go up the river or was the weather to nasty to give that a shot?? What cabins did you stay in, and last did the guide still have that big canoe? Pap

[EsoxAC3]

434 walleye!!! [emoji15][emoji43][emoji1303]......wow. And a 40" northern is pretty sweet. Congrats on beating the elements and catching some fish. Well done.

Edited August 1, 2016 by EsoxAC3

[krux5506]

Thanks guys, it was a great trip regardless of weather and many memories were made. Some of my younger teenage cousins who don't get to fish much if at all were amongst the group's more successful anglers. We were a bit split between serious fishermen and more leisurely, laid back not-so-hellbent on numbers fishermen.

Pap - we were in cabin 10, the big cabin to the north. There was a river right around the cove closest to us that we were a bit too nervous to bring one of the rental boats down, we spotted riffled water right at the start. Probably too shallow. A kayak would've been the ticket. We also didn't get into any of the other rivers nor did we try to.

The other guys in our group said this was about the worst trip they've had there thus far for numbers and especially weather. Regardless, it was my first time there and I can't wait to go back.

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[hermit]

Very nice, sounds like a blast!   That's a lot of fish in a week.  Gotta make some friends that are into this sort of thing, what's the smallest group size that's economically doable for a trip like this or elsewhere in Canada?  4?   Any fewer and I can see costs going up a lot.     Awesome trip, thanks for sharing!

[Xxx]

Hermit, I have fished Poutrincourt, at least 6-7 times. I fished it the spring when it was a fly in lake, over the years the hard bottom roads improved, to just a short maybe 45 min. Drive on pretty good dirt road. The amount of eyes we caught were nearly double that with 6 guys in the spring, in the later part of the year you need to move. That lake isn't very deep, I think there was a hole behind the island that's in view of cabin 10. That's over 30ft deep. Other than that your in the teens to mid 20's. That lake is stained dark brown, and it gives up eyes during the day where other Canadian lakes were a evening bite, during the day some of the guys targeted pike while we got after the Lakers in the deeper parts of the lake. 4 guys are good as you could do it with one vehicle, while 6 guys is good also you can take more stuff and not so crammed for 18 hrs, if you go with the European plan taking 2 vehicles is best as all the grub goodies in on truck and the rods and tackle in the other. You will be amazed how much food it takes to feed 4-6 men, and we had fish 2 nights. If you ever get to do it, it's a experience you'll never forget. Just the crazy things that happen in a weeks time!!

[jk1]

Papa that sounds very familiar. We used to go to Chibagamau twice a year. Our best set up was the trucks, 6 people and we had to have two four man cabins, just for all the gear. We had there electric heat and hot water, did not want to mess with wood stove etc. We stayed first at cabins right on route 167 Lac Dore, the to Vals(later to become JCbou). We did not fish the lakes we were on. We had a 16 foot car top the went backwards into the truck put in gear and a different lake every day. Wednesday was always exploring for a new lake day. My best day was 88 walleye and another day was 35 pike. Long time ago. 22 hours at first to get there, last time 15....jk