The forest road route 167 passes north-east of Nicabau Lake, connecting Chibougamau to Saint-Félicien, Quebec.

The surface of Poutrincourt Lake is usually frozen from early November to mid-May, however, safe ice circulation is generally from mid-November to mid-April.

The bay stretches across 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi) in parallel and on the west side of the central part of the lake.

The ancient appellations lake Ascatiche, Askitichi, Scatsie or Ascatsie, reported in the Dictionary of Rivers and Lakes of the Province of Quebec (1914 and 1925) are deformations of the Innu expression "oskat assi" meaning "new earth", "where the wood is green" or "small raw skin" according to the authors.

With Sieur de Monts, among others, he spent the winter of 1604–1605 on Sainte-Croix Island at the mouth of the river of the same name, on the border separating New Brunswick from the State of Maine.