Cochrane District, Ontario
Porcupine Lake
Nearly three square kilometers of cool water at South Porcupine in Timmins, with a deepest charted contour of 4.6 meters from the 1959 survey. The aquatic resource record lists five species, walleye and northern pike among them.
- Surface
- 2.8 km²
- Shoreline
- 9 km
- Islands
- 0
- Charted depth
- 4.6 m
- Depth contours
- 5
All figures are derived from Ontario’s survey records.
Where Porcupine Lake is
Porcupine Lake lies in the District of Cochrane, within the City of Timmins.
How deep is Porcupine Lake?
The deepest mapped contour on Porcupine Lake is 4.6 meters, and the water within that boundary descends even farther. Ontario’s bathymetry record holds 5 depth contours for Porcupine Lake.
Surveyed Depths
Ontario has surveyed the depths of several thousand of its lakes over more than half a century. Later surveys were conducted by boat with satellite positioning and produced hundreds of thousands of soundings per lake. Earlier surveys were charted by running transects across the water and drawing depth contours by hand.
Water quality
Ontario’s Lake Partner Program is a volunteer monitoring network. Participants collect a water sample each spring for phosphorus analysis and measure water clarity through the summer with a Secchi disk.
Phosphorus is the nutrient that controls how much algae a lake can grow. A lake with little phosphorus stays clear and supports cold-water fish such as lake trout. As phosphorus rises, algae increase, the water clouds, and oxygen in the deep water falls as the algae decay. The province classifies each monitoring site by its spring phosphorus. Below 10 micrograms per litre is oligotrophic: clear water and low algae. From 10 to 20 is mesotrophic: moderately productive water, with more algae and weed growth than an oligotrophic lake but rarely a bloom. Above 20 is eutrophic: nutrient-rich water, prone to algal blooms and low oxygen at depth.
A Secchi disk is a 20 centimeter white or black-and-white plate lowered on a marked line until it disappears from view. The depth at which it vanishes is the Secchi depth, a direct measure of water clarity. Clearer water gives a deeper reading.
Porcupine Lake has 2 Lake Partner monitoring sites. Two have reported phosphorus for the three or more years the province requires before a status is assigned. All are classified mesotrophic.
| Site | Location | Years | Last sampled | Classification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7338/1 | N end, near college | 10 | 2024 | mesotrophic |
| 7338/2 | S end, middle (shallow) | 9 | 2024 | mesotrophic |
The longest record is held by site 7338/1 at N end, near college, sampled over 10 springs to 2024. Its long-term mean phosphorus concentration is 18.81 micrograms per litre, within the mesotrophic band, which runs from 10 to 20. The site’s 2 clarity readings give a median Secchi depth of 1.9 meters.
Fish in Porcupine Lake
Ontario’s aquatic resource records name 5 fish species in Porcupine Lake. The province classes the lake as cool water. The record took effect on 12 November 2019, and it compiles what field biologists had reported by then.
Four of the five species in the province’s records
Northern Pikepike
Walleyeperch
Yellow Perchperch
Rock Basssunfish
| Family | Species |
|---|---|
| Sucker | white sucker |
Stocking history
Ontario’s stocking records for Porcupine Lake run from 1987 to 1987 and hold 1 release. Walleye account for most of the fish: 400 released in one of the years between 1987 and 1987. The last recorded release was 400 walleye subadults in 1987.
| Species | Years | Years with a release | Fish released |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walleye | 1987 to 1987 | 1 | 400 |
The province’s current stocking programme, recorded from 2016, lists no release into Porcupine Lake.
Eating the fish
The 2025 Guide to Eating Ontario Fish carries consumption advice for four species taken from Porcupine Lake, tested for contaminants at a sampling location in Whitney Twp., Cochrane Dist. Each figure below is the most meals a month the guide advises for a fish of that length. The advice falls as the fish gets longer, because mercury accumulates over a fish’s life. A zero means the guide advises no meals of that fish at that size.
General population adultsSensitive population children under fifteen, women who are or may become pregnant
| Length, cm | 30 to 35 | 35 to 40 | 40 to 45 | 45 to 50 | 50 to 55 | 55 to 60 | 60 to 65 | 65 to 70 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General population | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Sensitive population | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Length, cm | 25 to 30 | 30 to 35 | 35 to 40 | 40 to 45 | 45 to 50 | 50 to 55 | 55 to 60 | 60 to 65 | 65 to 70 | 70 to 75 | over 75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General population | 32 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| Sensitive population | 12 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Length, cm | 15 to 20 | 20 to 25 | 25 to 30 |
|---|---|---|---|
| General population | 16 | 16 | 8 |
| Sensitive population | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Length, cm | 25 to 30 | 30 to 35 | 35 to 40 | 40 to 45 | 45 to 50 | 50 to 55 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General population | 32 | 32 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 8 |
| Sensitive population | 32 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 4 |
Fisheries Management Zone 8
Porcupine Lake lies in Fisheries Management Zone 8. Ontario sets its fishing seasons and catch limits by zone.
| Species | Open season | Sport licence | Conservation licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brook Trout | Jan. 1 – Sept. 15 | 5 | 2 |
| Lake Sturgeon | Jan. 1 – Apr. 30 & July 1 – Dec. 31 | 0 | 0 |
| Lake Trout | Feb. 15 – Mar. 15 & 3rd Sat. in May – Sept. 30 | 3 | 1 |
| Lake Whitefish | Open all year | 25 | 12 |
| Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass or any combination | Open all year | 6 | 2 |
| Northern Pike | Open all year | 6, not more than 2 greater than 61 cm (24 in.), of which not more than 1 is greater than 86 cm (33.9 in.) | 2, not more than 1 greater than 61 cm (24 in.), none greater than 86 cm (33.9 in.) |
| Rainbow Trout | Open all year | 5 | 2 |
| Splake | Open all year | 5 | 2 |
| Sunfish | Open all year | 50 | 25 |
| Walleye and Sauger or any combination | Jan. 1 – Apr. 14 & 3rd Sat. in May – Dec. 31 | 4, not more than 1 greater than 46 cm (18.1 in.) | 2, not more than 1 greater than 46 cm (18.1 in.) |
| Yellow Perch | Open all year | 50 | 25 |
The figures are the number of fish an angler may catch and keep in a day and have in possession, under a sport fishing licence and under a conservation licence. The rows are the whole zone’s, and they apply to every lake in it.
| Species | Open season | Sport licence | Conservation licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walleye | Zone-wide | 2, none between 35 – 55 cm (13.8 – 21.7 in.) | 2, none between 35 – 55 cm (13.8 – 21.7 in.) |
Where a row reads zone-wide, the zone’s own season or limit above applies.
| Where | Closed |
|---|---|
| Porcupine River – From 200 m (656 ft.) upstream of the old ONR Crossing on the South Porcupine River Downstream to Porcupine Lake and all waters within 200 m (656 ft.) of the river mouth | No fishing from Apr. 1 – June 15 |
Islands and names
Official names
Ontario’s geographic names register lists 1 official name on the water and its islands: . A further 1 named point stands on the mainland shore.
Points on the shore 1
- Deadman's Point
Nearby lakes
- Night Hawk Lake17 km away
- Frederick House Lake28 km away
- Watabeag Lake55 km away
- Mistinikon Lake66 km away
Questions about Porcupine Lake
- How deep is Porcupine Lake?
Its deepest charted contour is 4.6 meters, and the water within it is deeper.
- How big is Porcupine Lake?
Its surface covers 2.8 square kilometers, with 9 kilometers of shoreline.
- What fish are in Porcupine Lake?
Ontario’s aquatic resource records name five species, among them walleye, northern pike and yellow perch.
- Is the water clear?
All two monitoring sites with a phosphorus status are classified mesotrophic, the middle of the province’s three bands.
A print of Porcupine Lake
Porcupine Lake has not yet been drawn as a print. The lakes drawn so far are on the lake maps page, and a print of Porcupine Lake can be requested by email; whether it can be drawn is confirmed before any payment.
Ask about a Porcupine Lake printLooking at a property on Porcupine Lake?
Depth and water quality are two records out of many. Our Rural & Cottage Buyer’s Report gathers what the public record holds about one specific address: shore road allowance, road access, wells, flood mapping, Crown land, wetlands and more, read and checked by a person before it is sent.
What these figures do and do not say
- Depth
- A depth reading is the distance from the water surface on the day of survey to the lake bottom. Lake levels vary through the season and between years. The depth figure above is the deepest contour charted and is a minimum; the depth within it was not recorded. The figures for Porcupine Lake are read from the province’s bathymetry records within the Ontario Hydro Network’s outline of the lake: the deepest figure is the deepest record inside that outline, and the count is every record inside it.
- Shoreline and surface
- The shoreline figure is the length of the mainland shore and of every island shore added together, measured on the Ontario Hydro Network’s outline of the lake. The surface figure is the area of water inside that outline, less the area of its islands. The provincial outline is mapped to within a few meters of the shore, and a shoreline measured from a coarser map comes out shorter, which is why a figure published elsewhere is often lower.
- Survey coverage
- Not every survey covered every arm of a lake, and the province’s index does not always record where a survey ended.
- Water quality
- Each figure belongs to a single monitoring site and not to the lake as a whole. A bay receiving a creek can read differently from open water half a kilometer away. Sites are matched to Porcupine Lake by name in the province’s records.
- Nearby lakes
- Distances are measured between lake centres.
- Islands and names
- Islands are counted and measured on the Ontario Hydro Network outline; names are the register’s, placed by its own coordinate. The register names islands the outline draws as part of a larger one, and the outline holds islands the register has not named, so the two counts differ. The outline carries some lakes across marsh, so a gap in the marsh is drawn as land, and every such gap is included in the island count. Where the register has not named one and it lies mostly inside a wetland in the province’s Wetland With Significance dataset, the page names the wetland and the table of largest islands leaves it out. Wetland boundaries are mapped at their own scale and can cover a small island whole.
- Depth contours
- Each contour is drawn where the survey placed it, at the survey’s own positional accuracy. The survey carries its own shoreline, which differs from the Ontario Hydro Network’s outline, so a contour near the shore can run to or past the outline. Such a stretch is drawn along the outline, as a drawing convention, and is not the survey’s line there. The contour count in the stat band is the province’s, and it includes the survey’s own shoreline contour, one ring around the mainland and one around each charted island, which the map leaves off; the map’s small print gives the split.
- Location
- Municipal boundaries are read from the province’s records as published and can lag a boundary change.
- Fish
- Ontario’s fish records are compilations of existing knowledge from field biologists and do not represent exhaustive inventories. A species that is not listed was not ruled out. The species list carries one date for the whole record and none for any species.
- Stocking
- A stocking record is a release on a date. It says nothing about how many fish survived or about the population in the lake today.
- Eating advice
- The guide’s advice is for fish taken from the lake at the tested location and applies to the size classes tested. The province’s guide is the authority and is updated each year.
- Fishing rules
- Seasons and limits are the zone’s, for the year of the dataset the page was built from, and a licence’s own conditions and any waterbody exception apply over them. The province’s regulations summary is the authority.
Where these figures come from
- Depth, shoreline, islands and named places: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources bathymetry and the Ontario Hydro Network, © King’s Printer for Ontario, Open Government Licence – Ontario.
- Phosphorus and water clarity: Ontario Lake Partner Program, Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Open Government Licence – Ontario. Extract built 2026-08-09.
- Aerial photography: Geospatial Ontario imagery, Open Government Licence – Ontario, released collections only.
- Official names: Geographic Names Ontario, Ministry of Natural Resources, Open Government Licence – Ontario. Marinas: Overture Maps Foundation places data, CDLA-Permissive 2.0.
- Lake outline and municipal boundaries: Ontario Hydro Network and Ontario municipal boundary records, Ministry of Natural Resources, Open Government Licence – Ontario.
- Fish species and thermal regime: Ontario Aquatic Resource Area records. Spawning areas: Ontario Fish Activity Area records. Both Ministry of Natural Resources, Open Government Licence – Ontario.
- Stocking: Historical Fish Stocking Data and Fish Stocking Data for Recreational Purposes, Ministry of Natural Resources, Open Government Licence – Ontario.
- Consumption advice: Guide to Eating Ontario Fish advisory database, 2025 edition, Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Open Government Licence – Ontario.
- Seasons and limits: Ontario recreational fishing regulations data, Ministry of Natural Resources, Open Government Licence – Ontario.
- Fish plates: Duane Raver, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Timothy Knepp, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. All public domain.