On your next long weekend, get on your quad bike and follow a circuit where fish, various pleasures, excitement, change of scenery and resourcing are in the spotlight. Here’s a quad tour of the Haute-Mauricie region that you can plan as a couple, with friends, family or even colleagues. Enjoy the ride and the catches!
Good Preparation for a Successful Stay
For this 3 or 4-day trip, for two people, you’ll need an airtight bag or bin to carry your sleeping bags, clothes and personal belongings. You’ll also need to bring a cooler with enough food for two or three days, keeping in mind that the places you’ll be visiting are equipped with kitchens and all facilities for cooking and serving. Would you like to mix business with pleasure and cast a line or two? Here’s the equipment you’ll need to maximize your chances to catch everything you’ll need for dinner. Two rods and reels per person, in case of damage, as well as a wide range of lures, mainly for speckled trout. Metallic lures such as the Williams Wabler, the Lake Clear Wabbler, the Geneva Spoon, the Wabler Lite W55, the Mooselook Midget 112, the Flasher F1 or F2 or the Toronto Wobbler will be very productive with a leader and a worm, as will Mepps 0 and 1, small Twisters, 2-1/4″ Sassy Stingum jigs, Rebel Tracdown Ghost Minnow TD47, Bobby Garland Baby Shad 1 ½ with Crappie Pro Mo Glo Jig head, etc. Depending on available space, you may also want to bring an electric motor, battery and life jackets, or rent it on site.
Day 1—Departure from La Tuque to La Pourvoirie du Lac Oscar
Late Thursday or early Friday morning, you’ll drive to La Tuque with your vehicle and ATV trailer. You’ll take the perfectly accessible Forest Road 25 for approximately 50 km (31 mi.) to La Pourvoirie du Lac OscarThis link will open in a new window.
You’ll unload your quad and park your truck and trailer for the rest of your stay. On the site, you’ll find 23 four-star cottages with all amenities. All units are close to services, but still offer a private setting. For this kind of package, Lea Farrar, general manager of the outfitter, invites you to enhance the experience with a 22 km (14 mi.) ATV ride to their new Diamant cottage for two people, facing a lake where stocked and native speckled trout weighing from 400 grams to 1.5 kg (0.9 to 3.3 lb) will be biting well.
And if you want to challenge pike, walleye or lake trout, you’ll have access to some 30 lakes within 15 minutes of each other, where you can tease them with swim baits, spoons or jigs.
If desired, you can even arrange a guide service. Recently celebrating its 50th year in business, the resort also offers activities such as kayaking, paddleboarding, hiking, meditation classes and more.
Day 2—Heading to Aventure Nature Okane
After breakfast on Saturday morning, pack up your gear, get on your ATV and head for Aventure Nature Okane outfitterThis link will open in a new window. A 75-minute ride on a pleasant forest road will take you to Denis Labarre and Nathalie Beaudoin. These friendly forest innkeepers operate a 40 km² (15 sq. mi.) former private club with exclusive rights and seven four-star cottages. The well-equipped accommodations are all solar-powered.
Once you’ve settled in, you’ll drive a maximum of eight kilometres to one of the 10 lakes. If you prefer native trout, you’ll opt for Bordeleau, Boucher, Amédée, Guesnel and Okane lakes. If you’d rather tease mixed populations of native and stocked trout, ranging in size from 22 to 40 cm (8.7 to 15.75”), you’ll be spoiled for choice with five other fine lakes. Every year, skilled anglers hook trophies that tip the scales at close to 2.3 kg (5 lb).
Hundreds of kilometres of trails can be explored in this area. If you’re in a mood to enjoy the countryside while driving, you’re in for a treat. There are also pedal boats, paddleboards and kayaks on site if you feel like stretching your legs.
Day 3—Ending at Pourvoirie Némiskau
Once we’ve had eggs, bacon and coffee, get ready for an hour-long ride to Pourvoirie NémiskauThis link will open in a new window. This is one of the most beautiful places in this part of the country. This former private club for a wealthy clientele has become a veritable Club Med for fishing.
Peggy, her husband Gilles, her sons Philipe and William and a dozen employees welcome you to this 32 km² (12 sq. mi.) estate and its nine lakes. Every year, the team enriches the lakes by relocating more than 25,000 speckled trout between 12 and 15” in size, which mix harmoniously with the many indigenous species already established there. Many anglers are bowled over by fish weighing over 2 kg (4.4 lb). There’s also the famous Lac Québec, with its colony of giant brook trout, making many an angler’s dream come true. Paddles exceeding 2.3 kg (5 lb) are often intercepted here, including one weighing almost 4.25 kg (9.4 lb) in 2023.
At this site, if you haven’t caught your 10-fish limit, with the right effort, you’ll be given the trout you need to complete your quota. If you fancy catching some grey or splake, you can try your luck in the lake opposite the inn.
After fishing, you may be interested in enjoying the five spas, massage therapy treatments, huge floating water park, canoes, pedal boats, paddleboards, volleyball, basketball, bocce ball and more.
All that’s left is a half-hour ATV ride back to your trailer to begin your journey home unless you decide to extend your stay…
Looking for an outfitter where you can go ATV riding?
Check out the following link:
Where to quad bike
Text written by Patrick CampeauThis link will open in a new window