Icefishing in the Saguenay region.

[dabluz]

Last week, the Baie des Ha! Ha! froze up enough so that we could go icefishing for smelt.  The fishing was fantastic.  The smelt were small but that's ok with me....I prefer eating small smelt and I keep the very small ones for bait.  My buddy and I got to go smelt fishing twice.  However, the warm weather and high winds pushed the 6 inch thick ice out into the main channel where the current and tides hauled the ice down to the St-Lawrence.

Yesterday, my buddy and I went to the Peribonka river which is about 50 minutes drive north west from my house to fish for walleye and pike.  The walk from the vehicule to the river took about 20 minutes.  The temperature was about -20 C and windless.  There was a good 12 inches of ice on the river.  I set up 3 lines baited with smelt and my buddy set up 4 lines baited with smelt.  The only fish we caught was a small burbot (lota lota).  We left when it started to get dark (about 4 p.m.).

Right now, we are experiencing a cold spell but next week, we plan to fish the Saguenay river a few miles upstream from Chicoutimi.  I will give you all an update.

[northwind50°]

Salut Dabluz,
The season is not close for walleye and pike at your sector? I'm waiting some news concerning your fishing on Saguenay river. NW50°

[dabluz]

Salut Dabluz,
The season is not close for walleye and pike at your sector? I'm waiting some news concerning your fishing on Saguenay river. NW50°

No, the season for pike and walleye is open from the 20 December till the 30 of march.  The region is mostly full of brook trout lakes so you can say that the whole region is closed for the winter.  However, there are exceptions....ex.: Saguenay River between Jonquière and Alma, Lac St-Jean, Péribonka river, lac La Mothe, Lac Tchitogama etc etc.  Ouananiche (landlocked salmon) caught in these waters during the winter season must be released.

My buddy and I will definately be fishing in the Saguenay River somewhere between Jonquière and Alma and we may try out Lac St-Jean too.  There is probably an extra fee to fish Lac St-Jean since it's a controlled fishing area.  We may even drive up to Chibougamau for a day or 2 of fishing for walleye, pike and lake trout.  In any event, I will be giving updates on our future outings.

[icebigboy]

hi dabluz,
              I'm going to saguenay maybe at the end of January(if enough ice) ,to fish at st-rose-du-nord.my cousin had a shanty over there.can't wait to be there!!!!i try to go there 3 times this year.i try to go fishing over here with my brother(northwind50) more than the last years.maybe we'll meet someday!!

[dabluz]

hi dabluz,
              I'm going to saguenay maybe at the end of January(if enough ice) ,to fish at st-rose-du-nord.my cousin had a shanty over there.can't wait to be there!!!!i try to go there 3 times this year.i try to go fishing over here with my brother(northwind50) more than the last years.maybe we'll meet someday!!

Hi icebigboy,

Sure thing.  I hope we can meet.  I've been a few times to Ste-Rose du Nord.  It's a beautiful place and a great place to fish.  The water is very deep and the current is strong.  I haven't been there in the past few years.  I don't like the way the place is operated....or was operated when I went there.  The fishermen set up many lines parallel to shore.  It's a race to see who can set up the most lines and block the fish from entering the small bay.  The type of equipement used is not very sporting.  They use huge wooden spools and lower 100 lb test to 200 lb test lines with huge weights on the end of their lines.  The leave the lines in place and every once in a while, they turn the big spools to bring the hooks up to the surface to see if there are any fish.  Since the area is in federal waters, they are allowed to leave the lines in the water and check them every 2 days just like commercial fishermen.  It also costs more to go there than elsewhere (parking fees, fees to enter the site).  The attitude of the people who run the place was not very friendly neither.  Since the bay was littered with lines, we had to walk far to set up our lines and we were not allowed to use a VTT to get to our fishing spot.  VTTs are very quiet on the ice...far different from the noise and vibrations a snowmobile can cause.  Maybe things have changed since I was last there.

I used steel monel line on Penn reels (line guide removed) when I was there.  We were fishing in close to 600 feet of water.  Had very little luck.  I would have liked to have fished in shallower water but there was little room to fish.  Lines get mixed up real easy in the current.

Fishing for cod, halibut, flounder, ocean perch through the ice in the Saguenay River is not as good as it was....by a long shot.  I should know, I was the one who started the whole thing over 30 years ago.  I kept my outings to a minimum and was happy catching only about 5 or 6 big cod and maybe a dozen halibut and 100 to 200 ocean perch per winter.  You can only eat so much fish but lots of people caught fish and resold it.  There were no limits to the catches.  Very few people ate ocean perch.  They just piled the frozen ocean perch beside their ice hut and bragged about who had the biggest pile of fish.  Now, the fish are scarce.

[northwind50°]

Hi Dabluz,
You are ''the reference'' concerning ice fishing on Saguenay river!! I went to Ste-Rose in 1989 and the success was surely better than today. What do you thing about the fish in Saguenay? Is it possible to find some cod and Sébaste (i don't know in English) or the 'Hole' is empty? Now, do you fish only smelts and do you use fishfinder to find and catch them? Thanks  NW50°

[dabluz]

Hi Dabluz,
You are ''the reference'' concerning ice fishing on Saguenay river!! I went to Ste-Rose in 1989 and the success was surely better than today. What do you thing about the fish in Saguenay? Is it possible to find some cod and Sébaste (i don't know in English) or the 'Hole' is empty? Now, do you fish only smelts and do you use fishfinder to find and catch them? Thanks  NW50°

There are still cod and "sébaste" in the Saguenay.  Way fewer than before.  The trick is to get away from the hustle and bustle of the traffic (ice fishing villages and people making noise with their snowmobiles etc).  One thing for sure, Ste-Rose du Nord is way quieter than other ice fishing villages.  The walk to deeper water is short.  I haven't been back there for over 10 years and I haven't had much news about how the fishing is either.  If you know anyone who goes fishing in Ste-Rose du Nord, try to get the latest info from them.  I will try to get some info too.  I'm sure that within a few days, the fishermen in that area will start to set up their cabins.  The cold snap we are experiencing is putting a good coat of ice in the Saguenay.

For smelt, using a sonar is not much help.  Sometimes we see lots of smelt on the screen but get very few bites.  I usually go to St-Fulgence which is only about 6 km from my house.  There are a couple of areas where the smelt fishing is almost always good.  Even the guys who target the larger species go smelt fishing because the smelt make great bait.  One area in particular is good but not at low tide because there is no water under the ice at low tide.  Don't use a manual ice auger in these places, the ice always has tiny rocks and grains of sand in it....this ruins blades.  Ice chisels is the way to go.  It can be a long job too because the ice can get close to 40 inches thick.  The nice thing about an ice chisel is being able to open holes that have iced over.

As soon as I get a chance, I will be going to Grande Baie (just next to Ville de la Baie) for smelt and brook trout.  There are places where the brook trout bite quite regularly and the smelt fishing is good.

For smelt, St-Fulgence is the place to go.  I think it costs about 2 dollars to park on the ice and it's a short walk to the best smelt fishing spot.  You will always see a group of fishermen fishing that spot which is actually the bed of a stream that enters the Saguenay.  We also catch the occaisional "ogac cod" and a few brook trout there too.  I plan to set up a rod or 2 with larger baits in order to improve my chances of catching a cod or large brook trout.

St-Fulgence is also the best starting point to go for Atlantic cod and Greenland halibut.  It's a long walk (much shorter by snowmobile) downstream but many say that it's worth the trouble.

For "sébaste" (ocean perch), many are now using medium sized spinning gear loaded with Fireline and fish in 60 to 300 feet of water.  Using a sonar helps because these fish often cruise at different depths.

But, fishing for ocean perch, cod, halibut....I haven't done that for a long time now.  However, I have a buddy who is new to fishing and he wants to try this type of fishing.  I will surely have more info in a few weeks.

[icebigboy]

hi dabluz,
              your post are very interesting .To response to your post about the fishing at st-rose-du nord,there's not so much big spool everywhere on the ice.I think people think that it don't worth the job that it take for the number of fish they get.tree year ago we had 6 big spoon like that and we caught absolutely nothing on tree days of fishing. For myself I'm going there to be with my cousin and best friend.
I don't know about how it cost to go there my cousin take care of that but maybe 3$ a day for the parking.no fees when you have a shanty.
In general the people are cool.we meet few people that welcome us in there shanty and learn us there tips for catching more fish.
I got lot of fun being there because that's ``another world``fishing there.
 
I BE THERE SOON!!!

[dabluz]

I admit that the last time I was in St-Rose du Nord....was a long time ago.  Ice fishing is a different sport now.  It's more on having fun, getting outdoors etc.  The importance of the tourist industry has taken much more importance.  In the old days, it was more of a free for all and who could haul out the most fish.  Ste-Rose du Nord is a beautiful place and you don't have to walk very far to get to the fishing sites.

We have had very cold weather this past week.  People will be starting to set up their cabins on the ice about now.

[dabluz]

Ice fishing is in full swing here on the Saguenay River.  The fishing is good and from what I have heard so far, better than in the past few years.

I went twice over the weekend.  On the first outing, we were fishing in about 280 feet of water.  I fished on the bottom with a 2 ounce jig baited with a frozen smelt.  I only put out 2 lines.  I caught a small cod of about 3 lbs.

My buddy brought his sonar but couldn't get it to operate properly.

The next day, we were back at almost the same spot but about 200 feet closer to shore.  We were fishing in about 180 feet of water.  I again put 2 lines in the water and fished on the bottom.  Meanwhile, my buddy finally got his sonar to work and he chased after fish that were cruising in about 150 feet of water.  He got one bite during the day.  I didn't get a bite the whole day.

[dabluz]

Went fishing in the Saguenay River again on Saturday.  We fished in 2 different areas.  Saw no fish at all on the sonar.  I caught a small ray and that was the only fish we caught.

Too much noise and traffic (ATVs, snowmobiles) on the weekend.  Maybe fishing at night would be the thing to do.

[dabluz]

I've been out on the Saguenay the past few days, fishing for smelt.  Fishing was fantastic.  In the past 2 days, I caught close to 200 smelt.  Since they are best eaten fresh, I fixed them up and gave some to family members who can't get out on the ice.  I had a huge supper of smelt tonight.

[4cator]

Wow, thats alot of smelt

[dabluz]

Fishing is great this year.  Lots of cod, ocean perch and the smelt are biting every where.

The only site that is not open yet is the one at St-Fulgence.  However, it has been real cold up here.  -30 during the night and -20 during the day.  This weekend, fishermen will be allowed to fish on the ice at St-Fulgence.  At the beginning of this week, there was between 5 and 10 inches of ice.  I'm sure that the ice fishing huts will be allowed on the ice in a few days.

If anyone wants the GPS coordinates of all the ice fishing locations on the Saguenay river, I can post them.