Lake trout fishing opens this Friday, April 25, 2025. A popular event with anglers from all over Quebec. Lake Massawippi is a magnificent lake offering a wide variety of fish species, including lake trout.
Over 200 boats entered Lake Massawippi for the opening weekend. Even Radio-Canada was on hand for the event.
Photo of the Ayer’s Cliff parking lot on Friday, April 25, 2025.
Essentially, fishermen take their boats down to Ayer’s Cliff. In fact, the drop-off and parking are very well organized. In fact, every year, the municipality of Ayer’s Cliff is present for the opening of the fishing season. It also generates revenue, with over a hundred anglers paying for the descent and parking. At least 50 cars and trailers parked in Ayer’s Cliff this Friday, April 24. Normally, there are even more cars on Saturdays and Sundays when people aren’t working. If we do a quick calculation, 200 cars with a boat and trailer
- 30 parking and descent
- 20 for boat wash
Total: $50 per angler.
200 fishermen = $50 X $200 = $10,000 for 3 days.
3333 in revenue per day.
This means you can generate over $10,000 in revenue over a long weekend. Ayer’s Cliff understands this. And let’s not forget that fishermen have to pay for gas and food. So it’s an excellent opportunity to generate goodwill in Ayer’s Cliff businesses during the off-season.
What’s more, the municipality of Ayer’s Cliff opens its downhill a few days in advance for residents. Bravo, that’s very kind and very useful for avoiding the wait on Friday morning of the opening. And it frees up traffic for other visitors.
An important reminder: as a citizen, make sure you have your lake vignette before heading downstream from North Hatley or Ayer’s Cliff. By the way, the municipality of Canton de Hatley is very quick to issue boat stickers. A quick e-mail and they’ll have them ready for you in no time. Bravo and thank you!
Also, don’t forget to buy your ticket for the Club de conservation du Lac Massawippi ‘s fishing tournament to help stock the lake.
Normalement, vous pouvez aussi descendre votre bateau à North Hatley. il y a deux descentes. Par contre, c’est toujours compliqué à chaque année. Nous sommes plusieurs a devoir téléphoner à la municipalité pour leur demander d’ouvrir la descente.
Again this year, no announcement as to the opening of the fishing runs. In North Hatley, it’s Groundhog Day. It was the same last year and the years before. It’s unfortunate for citizen anglers who want to launch their boats without going to the other side of the lake. Maybe it’s just that the North Hatley waterfront municipality doesn’t know when the fishing season opens? It’s the same week every year! Available on the Ministry website.
On the eve of the fishing season, the runs were still closed until 4:45pm. So once again this year, we had to chase after the municipality on the eve of the opening, while the runs were still closed, to finally talk to someone and put the pressure on to get some cooperation.
We were told that the descent would open this evening at 4:00 pm (April 24, 2025, the day before the opening). The municipality told us that boat washes were not necessary, as there was no risk of contamination given the water temperature. At 4.30pm, we were confronted with two closed boat launches. We had to phone again for someone to come and open the descent at 4.45pm. When you have a boat behind the car, you don’t want to move around the village. It doesn’t turn easily and it’s very difficult to back up.
They opened the descent without even asking us for our sticker or washing our boat. By the way, the North Hatley runs have been open since 4:45 p.m. and are free to all, with no boat wash, sticker or payment whatsoever.
Finally, we were able to take the boat down to the federal wharf. However, we had to remove a number of obstacles, including a wheelbarrow blocking the way down. The space is used by the Solstice Sauna. An excellent project to stimulate North Hatley in winter. Only slight confusion between the boat launch and the use of the dock for the sauna. The municipality should have advised us and ensured that the descent was clear. But it wasn’t. Of course, moving a wheelbarrow wasn’t complicated. It’s just the principle that doesn’t make sense!
Taking your boat down to Ayer’s Cliff when you live in North Hatley just doesn’t seem right. What’s more, it’s a long way to drag a boat behind your car, not to mention bringing the boat back to the lake and the trailer and car by road. Two things that can’t be done at the same time, especially when you’re on your own. It wastes time and money. In short, I still recommend the descent to Ayer’s Cliff to avoid any surprises, despite the fact that the descent to North Hatley is free.
Take care on the lake and have a great fishing season!
