Leeds and Grenville, Ontario

Newboro Lake

One hundred and eighty-five islands along 126 kilometers of shoreline in the Township of Rideau Lakes, charted to 22.9 meters in the province's 1968 survey. Eighty-one largemouth bass spawning areas are recorded.

Aerial photograph of Newboro Lake.
Newboro Lake from the air, DRAPE2024. Imagery © King’s Printer for Ontario, used under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.
Surface
16.1 km²
Shoreline
126 km59 mainland + 67 islands
Islands
185
Charted depth
22.9 m
Depth contours
223

All figures are derived from Ontario’s survey records.

Where Newboro Lake is

Newboro Lake lies in the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, within the Township of Rideau Lakes.

How deep is Newboro Lake?

The deepest mapped contour on Newboro Lake is 22.9 meters, and the water within that boundary descends even farther. Ontario’s bathymetry record holds 223 depth contours for Newboro Lake.

34.66.17.639.112.24.610.713.736.116.815.218.319.81.521.37.67.69.122.910.74.66.16.1336.14.67.6
The deepest charted contour on Newboro Lake, 22.9 meters, from the survey of 7 April 1968. The circle marks the centre of that contour, and the water within it is deeper. Two contours reach this depth; the largest is marked. Of the survey’s 223 contours, 130 are its own shoreline contour, one ring around the mainland and one around each island it charted, and are left off, the outline being the Ontario Hydro Network’s; the other 93 depth contours are drawn where the province published them, and along the outline where the survey placed them beyond it. Outline from the Ontario Hydro Network. Each contour is labelled with its depth in meters; zoom in where they run close.

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.

Newboro Lake has 3 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.

Lake Partner sites on Newboro Lake with a quotable phosphorus record
SiteLocationYearsLast sampledClassification
3458/1Hungry Bay232025mesotrophic
3458/3Mid Bay, Deep Spot82025mesotrophic

The longest record is held by site 3458/1 at Hungry Bay, sampled over 23 springs to 2025. Its long-term mean phosphorus concentration is 12.31 micrograms per litre, within the mesotrophic band, which runs from 10 to 20. The site’s 236 clarity readings give a median Secchi depth of 4.85 meters.

0 m4 m8 m12 m61310814998141010898899109975656665readings1997200020052010201520202024
Median Secchi depth by year at site 3458/1, surface at the top. The thin line through each bar spans the shallowest and deepest reading that year, and the row beneath the years gives the number of readings. Years without readings are blank.

Fish in Newboro Lake

Ontario’s aquatic resource records name 24 fish species in Newboro Lake. The record took effect on 24 June 2020, and it compiles what field biologists had reported by then.

Eleven of the 24 species in the province’s records

  • Northern Pike, Drawing by Timothy KneppNorthern Pikepike
  • Walleye, Raver Duane, U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceWalleyeperch
  • Yellow Perch, Raver Duane, U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceYellow Perchperch
  • Smallmouth Bass, Raver Duane, U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceSmallmouth Basssunfish
  • Largemouth Bass, Drawing by Duane Raver.

The original uploader was Tkinias at English Wikipedia.Largemouth Basssunfish
  • Black Crappie, U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceBlack Crappiesunfish
  • Rock Bass, U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceRock Basssunfish
  • Pumpkinseed, Raver Duane, U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServicePumpkinseedsunfish
  • Bluegill, USFWS Mountain PrairieBluegillsunfish
  • Brown Bullhead, Duane Raver, U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceBrown Bullheadcatfish
  • Common Carp, USFWSCommon Carpminnow
The other thirteen species in the province’s records
FamilySpecies
Catfishyellow bullhead
Suckersuckers
Smeltrainbow smelt
Minnowblackchin shiner, blacknose shiner, common shiner, golden shiner, lake chub, spotfin shiner, spottail shiner
Herringalewife
Eelamerican eel
Mudminnowcentral mudminnow

Spawning areas

Ontario maps 90 fish spawning records within the Newboro Lake outline, for three species, all of them mapped areas. Three of the areas are one outline mapped for largemouth bass and northern pike alike. An outline filed for more than one species is drawn once, striped in each of their colours.

By number of records

By area mapped

  • Largemouth Bass81 areas210.1 ha
  • Northern Pike8 areas20.2 ha
  • Smallmouth Bass1 area1.8 ha
Spawning records mapped by the province within the Newboro Lake outline. A record under 100 square meters is drawn as a dot; a spawning area is drawn as the outline mapped. One colour per species, the same as the bars and the list above. An outline filed for more than one species is striped in each of their colours; zoom in to read the stripes.

The federal Fisheries Act prohibits the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat without an authorization, so a dock, dredging, infill or shoreline work at a mapped spawning area is reviewed on that basis.

Stocking history

Ontario’s stocking records for Newboro Lake run from 1948 to 1978 and hold 38 releases. Largemouth Bass account for most of the fish: 68,116 released in fourteen of the years between 1948 and 1968. The last recorded release was 2,000 smallmouth bass frys in 1978.

Fish released into Newboro Lake, 1948 to 1978
SpeciesYearsYears with a releaseFish released
Largemouth Bass1948 to 19681468,116
Smallmouth Bass1949 to 19781840,600

The province’s current stocking programme, recorded from 2016, lists no release into Newboro Lake.

Eating the fish

The 2025 Guide to Eating Ontario Fish carries consumption advice for nine species taken from Newboro Lake, tested for contaminants at a sampling location in N. & S. Crosby Twps., Leeds Co. 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

Northern Pike Mercury
Length, cm30 to 3535 to 4040 to 4545 to 5050 to 5555 to 6060 to 6565 to 70
General population16161616121244
Sensitive population88844400
Smallmouth Bass Mercury, PCB
Length, cm20 to 2525 to 3030 to 3535 to 4040 to 45
General population1612844
Sensitive population44000
Largemouth Bass Mercury
Length, cm20 to 2525 to 3030 to 3535 to 4040 to 4545 to 50
General population16168844
Sensitive population844000
Yellow Perch Mercury
Length, cm15 to 2020 to 2525 to 30
General population321612
Sensitive population1284
Black Crappie Mercury
Length, cm15 to 2020 to 25
General population164
Sensitive population40
Rock Bass Mercury
Length, cm20 to 2525 to 30
General population1612
Sensitive population84
Pumpkinseed no contaminant listed
Length, cm15 to 2020 to 25
General population3232
Sensitive population1212
Brown Bullhead no contaminant listed
Length, cm20 to 2525 to 30
General population3232
Sensitive population3232
Bluegill Mercury
Length, cm15 to 2020 to 25
General population1616
Sensitive population88

Fisheries Management Zone 18

Newboro Lake lies in Fisheries Management Zone 18. Ontario sets its fishing seasons and catch limits by zone.

Zone 18 seasons and limits, 2026
SpeciesOpen seasonSport licenceConservation licence
Brook TroutOpen all year52
Brown TroutOpen all year52
Channel CatfishOpen all year126
CrappieOpen all year3010
Lake Trout4th Sat. in May – Sept. 821
Lake WhitefishOpen all year126
Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass or any combination3rd Sat. in June – Dec. 1562
Muskellunge1st Sat. in June – Dec. 151, must be greater than 91 cm (36 in.)0
Northern PikeJan. 1 – Mar. 31 & 2nd Sat. in May – Dec. 3162
Pacific SalmonOpen all year52
Rainbow TroutOpen all year52
SplakeOpen all year52
SunfishOpen all year300, only 30 may be greater than 18 cm (7.1 in.)15
Walleye and Sauger or any combinationJan. 1 – Mar. 1 & 2nd Sat. in May – Dec. 314, must be between 40 – 50 cm (15.7 โ€“ 19.7 in.)2, must be between 40 – 50 cm (15.7 โ€“ 19.7 in.)
Yellow PerchOpen all year5025

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. No waterbody exception names Newboro Lake.

Fish sanctuaries recorded for Newboro Lake
WhereClosed
Newboro Lake (Old Iron Mine Bay) – North Crosby and South Crosby TwpsClosed all year
Newboro Lake (The Bog) – South Crosby TwpClosed all year

Newboro Lake Ice Fishing

An ice hut on Newboro Lake must be removed by March 15. Newboro Lake lies in fisheries management zone 18, one of the twenty zones Ontario sets its fishing rules by, and one removal date applies across the whole zone.

An ice hut must also be removed before the ice breaks up, whether or not that date has passed. The deadline clears huts from the ice ahead of the thaw and does not close the fishing season.

Registration is required in zone 18 for an ice hut built of anything other than fabric, and for a fabric tent covering seven square meters or more. Registration is free, and the number is displayed on the outside of the hut.

Ice conditions

No public record reports the thickness or the condition of the ice on Newboro Lake on any given day. Ontario publishes ice safety guidance for anyone going out on the ice, at ontario.ca.

Islands and names

Newboro Lake contains 185 islands in the Ontario Hydro Network’s outline, four of them over 10 hectares and 88 under a tenth of a hectare. Thirty-three of them lie inside wetlands mapped in the province’s Wetland With Significance dataset. The largest two, of 6.0 and 2.6 hectares, fall inside the The Bog Marsh.

12345678910
The ten largest islands outside a mapped wetland, numbered to the table. Areas are measured on the province’s outline.
The ten largest islands outside a mapped wetland
IslandHectares
1Rosal Island19.2
2Stedmans Island18.0
3Foley Island11.2
4McCaskill Island10.1
5Pritchards Island7.7
6Pine Island7.2
7Wright Island7.0
8Bobs Island6.5
9Emerald Island5.9
10Long Island5.8

Official names

Ontario’s geographic names register lists 71 official names on the water and its islands: 52 islands, nine bays, four rocks, one narrows and one point on an island. A further 9 named points stand on the mainland shore.

Bays 9

  • Bass Bay
  • Hungry Bay
  • Iron Mine Bay
  • Lewis Bay
  • Lucky Bay
  • Millers Bay
  • Rosal Bay
  • Stouts Lower Bay
  • Stouts Upper Bay

Shoals and rocks 4

  • Caviar Rock
  • March Rock
  • Sanctuary Rock
  • Shadow Rock

Harbours, cuts and narrows 1

  • Stevens Creek

Points on the shore 9

  • Benson Point
  • Brady Point
  • Edwards Point
  • Gibsons Point
  • Grass Point
  • Hungry Bay Point
  • McNallys Point
  • Mosquito Point
  • Tetts Point

Nearby lakes

All lakes

Questions about Newboro Lake

  • How deep is Newboro Lake?

    Its deepest charted contour is 22.9 meters, and the water within it is deeper.

  • How big is Newboro Lake?

    Its surface covers 16.1 square kilometers and it holds 185 islands. Of its 126 kilometers of shoreline, 59 kilometers is the mainland shore and 67 kilometers is the shore of the islands.

  • What fish are in Newboro Lake?

    Ontario’s aquatic resource records name 24 species, among them walleye, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, northern pike, yellow perch and black crappie.

  • 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 Newboro Lake

Newboro Lake has not yet been drawn as a print. The lakes drawn so far are on the lake maps page, and a print of Newboro Lake can be requested by email; whether it can be drawn is confirmed before any payment.

Ask about a Newboro Lake print

Looking at a property on Newboro 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.

See what is in the report

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 Newboro 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 Newboro 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.
Spawning areas
A spawning area is drawn where the province mapped it, at the province’s stated accuracy, and the record says nothing about how many fish use it in a given year. A nest record is one nest seen on one day; a count of nests is not a count of fish, and a count of records is not a comparison between species. Whether a given piece of work needs an authorization is a determination made by Fisheries and Oceans Canada on the work itself.
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.
Ice hut rules
Removal dates and registration rules are set by fisheries management zone and change from time to time. The dates here were read from the province in September 2026. The province’s own fishing regulations are 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.
  • Ice hut removal dates and registration: Ontario fishing regulations, read September 2026.