Sudbury District, Ontario
Lake Panache
Two hundred and eleven islands and 421 kilometers of shoreline, charted to 54.9 meters in the province's 1974 survey. Cold water, with lake trout spawning shoals recorded at eleven places.
- Surface
- 80.9 km²
- Shoreline
- 421 km295 mainland + 126 islands
- Islands
- 211
- Charted depth
- 54.9 m
- Depth contours
- 251
All figures are derived from Ontario’s survey records.
Where Lake Panache is
Lake Panache lies in the District of Sudbury, with shoreline in the Municipality of Killarney and the City of Greater Sudbury.
How deep is Lake Panache?
The deepest mapped contour on Lake Panache is 54.9 meters, and the water within that boundary descends even farther. Ontario’s bathymetry record holds 251 depth contours for Lake Panache.
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.
Lake Panache has 17 Lake Partner monitoring sites. Nine have reported phosphorus for the three or more years the province requires before a status is assigned. Eight of those sites are classified oligotrophic and one eutrophic.
| Site | Location | Years | Last sampled | Classification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4234/6 | Stn 1, Stoney Bay | 17 | 2025 | oligotrophic |
| 4234/17 | Navy Islands, deep spot | 13 | 2025 | oligotrophic |
| 4234/15 | west basin, deep spot | 12 | 2025 | oligotrophic |
| 4234/18 | W Bay-N Burnt Is | 12 | 2025 | eutrophic |
| 4234/19 | Peterson Bay | 12 | 2025 | oligotrophic |
| 4234/20 | Unnamed Bay | 12 | 2025 | oligotrophic |
| 4234/21 | NW-Chief Is-deep | 12 | 2025 | oligotrophic |
| 4234/3 | PAN-3 | 4 | 2022 | oligotrophic |
| 4234/1 | Main Basin 1 Dieppe | 3 | 2004 | oligotrophic |
The longest record is held by site 4234/6 at Stn 1, Stoney Bay, sampled over 17 springs to 2025. Its long-term mean phosphorus concentration is 5.71 micrograms per litre, within the oligotrophic band, which extends to 10. The site’s 55 clarity readings give a median Secchi depth of 5.0 meters.
Fish in Lake Panache
Ontario’s aquatic resource records name 26 fish species in Lake Panache. The province classes the lake as cold water. The record took effect on 6 November 2017, and it compiles what field biologists had reported by then. The province’s other records for the lake name two further species, splake and rainbow trout. They appear in the records below.
Thirteen of the 28 species in the province’s records
Lake Trouttrout and whitefish
Lake Whitefishtrout and whitefish
Ciscotrout and whitefish
Northern Pikepike
Walleyeperch
Yellow Perchperch
Smallmouth Basssunfish
Largemouth Basssunfish
Rock Basssunfish
Pumpkinseedsunfish
Bluegillsunfish
Burbotcod
Brown Bullheadcatfish
| Family | Species |
|---|---|
| Trout and whitefish | rainbow trout, splake |
| Perch | logperch |
| Catfish | margined madtom |
| Sucker | white sucker |
| Smelt | rainbow smelt |
| Minnow | blackchin shiner, bluntnose minnow, common shiner, emerald shiner, golden shiner, mimic shiner |
| Sculpin | mottled sculpin, spoonhead sculpin |
| Trout-perch | trout-perch |
Spawning areas
Ontario maps 23 fish spawning records within the Lake Panache outline, for four species, all of them mapped areas. One of the areas is one outline mapped for lake trout and lake whitefish 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
- Lake Trout11 areas26.2 ha
- Northern Pike6 areas49.4 ha
- Walleye5 areas19.7 ha
- Lake Whitefish1 area1.3 ha
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 Lake Panache run from 1946 to 1989 and hold 58 releases. Walleye account for most of the fish: 5,054,000 released in seventeen of the years between 1946 and 1989. The last recorded release was 900 walleye fingerlings in 1989.
| Species | Years | Years with a release | Fish released |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walleye | 1946 to 1989 | 17 | 5,054,000 |
| Lake Trout | 1946 to 1974 | 17 | 231,750 |
| Smallmouth Bass | 1946 to 1961 | 9 | 52,000 |
| Rainbow Trout | 1962 to 1968 | 4 | 21,400 |
| Splake | 1953 to 1953 | 1 | 1,500 |
The province’s current stocking programme, recorded from 2016, lists no release into Lake Panache.
Fisheries Management Zone 10
Lake Panache lies in Fisheries Management Zone 10. Ontario sets its fishing seasons and catch limits by zone.
| Species | Open season | Sport licence | Conservation licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Salmon | Jan. 1 – Sept. 30 | 1 | 0 |
| Brook Trout | Jan. 1 – Sept. 30 | 5 | 2 |
| Brown Trout | Open all year | 5 | 2 |
| Channel Catfish | Open all year | 12 | 6 |
| Crappie | Open all year | 30 | 10 |
| Lake Trout | Jan. 1 – Labour Day | 2, not more than 1 greater than 40 cm (15.7 in.) | 1 |
| Lake Whitefish | Open all year | 12 | 6 |
| Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass or any combination | 3rd Saturday in June – November 30 | 6 | 3 |
| Muskellunge | 3rd Sat. in June – Dec. 15 | 1, must be greater than 122 cm (48 in.) | 0 |
| Northern Pike | Open all year | 6; not more than 1 greater than 61 cm, none greater than 86 cm | 2; none greater than 61 cm |
| Pacific Salmon | Open all year | 5 | 2 |
| Rainbow Trout | Open all year | 2 | 1 |
| Splake | Open all year | 5 | 2 |
| Sunfish | Open all year | 50 | 25 |
| Walleye and Sauger or any combination | January 1 to the third Sunday in March and third Saturday in May to December 31 | 4, none greater than 46 cm | 2, none greater than 46 cm |
| 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. No waterbody exception names Lake Panache.
Lake Panache Ice Fishing
An ice hut on Lake Panache must be removed by March 31. Lake Panache lies in fisheries management zone 10, 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 10 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 Lake Panache on any given day. Ontario publishes ice safety guidance for anyone going out on the ice, at ontario.ca.
Islands and names
Lake Panache contains 211 islands in the Ontario Hydro Network’s outline, nineteen of them over 10 hectares and 102 under a tenth of a hectare.
| Island | Hectares | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Big Chief Island | 312.3 |
| 2 | Burnt Island | 123.9 |
| 3 | unnamed | 104.2 |
| 4 | Big Pine Island | 88.0 |
| 5 | Chief Island | 67.2 |
| 6 | unnamed | 66.0 |
| 7 | unnamed | 56.6 |
| 8 | unnamed | 54.1 |
| 9 | Sugar Island | 53.3 |
| 10 | unnamed | 34.9 |
Official names
Ontario’s geographic names register lists 46 official names on the water and its islands: 26 islands, twelve bays, one narrows and one point on an island. A further 3 named points stand on the mainland shore. The register records the origin of one name: Hurtubise Island, “Island named after previous owner/doctor/senator who owned the island from 1938-1954 (Doctor Joseph Raoul Hurtubise).”
Bays 12
- Archie Bay
- Brown's Bay
- East Bay
- Grassy Bay
- Hunters Bay
- Kimbell's Bay
- Newton's Bay
- Northeast Bay
- Sawmill Bay
- Stony Bay
- Taylor Bay
- West Bay
Harbours, cuts and narrows 1
- Burnt Narrows
Points on the shore 3
- Green Point
- Potato Point
- Virginia Point
Nearby lakes
- Long Lake24 km away
- Fairbank Lake26 km away
- Vermilion Lake32 km away
- Agnew Lake33 km away
Questions about Lake Panache
- How deep is Lake Panache?
Its deepest charted contour is 54.9 meters, and the water within it is deeper.
- How big is Lake Panache?
Its surface covers 80.9 square kilometers and it holds 211 islands. Of its 421 kilometers of shoreline, 295 kilometers is the mainland shore and 126 kilometers is the shore of the islands.
- What fish are in Lake Panache?
Ontario’s aquatic resource records name 26 species, among them lake trout, walleye, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, northern pike and lake whitefish. The lake’s spawning, consumption and stocking records also name splake and rainbow trout.
A print of Lake Panache
Lake Panache has not yet been drawn as a print. The lakes drawn so far are on the lake maps page, and a print of Lake Panache can be requested by email; whether it can be drawn is confirmed before any payment.
Ask about a Lake Panache printLooking at a property on Lake Panache?
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 Lake Panache 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 Lake Panache 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.
- 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.
- 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; Ellen Edmonson and Hugh Chrisp, New York State Conservation Department; 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.