Tomcod Fishing at Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade: The Complete Guide

What is the tomcod?

The petit poisson des chenaux is the popular name for the Atlantic tomcod. It is a gadid — a cousin of the cod — but barely longer than a hand.

What makes it remarkable is its cycle. It lives in salt water most of the year, then runs up rivers in winter to reproduce. The spawning ground of the Sainte-Anne River is one of the most important, and it is precisely there, under the ice, that the fishery happens.

In other words: you do not go looking for the fish. It comes to you.

When to go

The season opens on 26 December and ends in mid-February. Exact dates shift year to year with the ice: a late-December thaw can push the opening back by days.

A festival fills the weekends of the last stretch of the season, with activities on site.

Check with the outfitters' association before travelling: the opening date is confirmed late, and it depends on the ice, not the calendar.

How it actually works

Everything goes through a fishing centre. You do not drill your own hole on the Sainte-Anne River: the cabins are installed, heated and run by operators.

You book a cabin, by the hour or for a period. It is heated, lit, and the holes are already cut in the floor.

Gear is provided — lines, bait, and usually the scoop and shovel. That is what makes this accessible: you can show up knowing nothing about fishing and owning nothing.

Fishing runs day and night. The night sessions have a reputation: quieter, often more productive, and the sight of lit cabins on the river is worth the trip on its own.

It is a family activity. This is probably the easiest doorway into Quebec ice fishing for children: it is warm, the fish bite often, and there is nothing to carry.

What to bring

Very little, by design.

Warm clothes for the walk from the parking area to the cabin, winter boots, food and drink, and a bag or cooler for the catch. The rest is on site.

If you want to cook your tomcod, they go whole — lightly floured and pan-fried. It is a fine-fleshed fish eaten by the handful rather than one at a time.

Licence, limits and rules

Tomcod has a particular status: on the St. Lawrence downstream of the Laviolette Bridge, fishing for smelt and tomcod can be done without a sport licence for residents. It is one of the exceptions in Quebec regulations — see our guide to fishing without a licence in Quebec.

That said, access conditions, catch limits and terms change, and each fishing centre adds its own rules. Confirm with the operator when booking, and check your zone's regulations — do not trust any number read in an article, including this one.

Elsewhere in Quebec

Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade is the best-known site, but tomcod is also fished elsewhere on the St. Lawrence and its tributaries in winter.

If you enjoy it, two other ice fishing worlds are worth the trip: the Saguenay fjord, fished in brackish water with tides under the ice — see our Saguenay ice fishing guide — and the walleye, perch and lake trout lakes of the rest of the province, covered in our ice fishing guide.

For what bites and when, the month-by-month fishing calendar covers the whole year.