Nipissing District, Ontario

Red Cedar Lake

Twenty-three square kilometers of water on the Temagami River, with 94 islands and 165 kilometers of shoreline, charted to 30.5 meters across 110 depth lines. Three walleye spawning areas are mapped, and walleye, lake trout and bass were released between 1946 and 2005.

Surface: 23.4 km²
Shoreline: 165 km130 mainland + 35 islands
Islands: 94
Charted depth: 30.5 m
Depth contours: 110

All figures are derived from Ontario’s survey records.

Where Red Cedar Lake is

Red Cedar Lake lies in the District of Nipissing, within the Municipality of Temagami.

How deep is Red Cedar Lake?

The deepest mapped contour on Red Cedar Lake is 30.5 meters, and the water within that boundary descends even farther. Ontario’s bathymetry record holds 110 depth contours for Red Cedar Lake.

The deepest charted contour on Red Cedar Lake, 30.5 meters. The circle marks the centre of that contour, and the water within it is deeper. The survey’s 110 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.

No monitoring site on Red Cedar Lake is registered with the Lake Partner Program, so no phosphorus or clarity record exists for the lake.

Fish in Red Cedar Lake

Ontario’s aquatic resource records name 4 fish species in Red Cedar Lake. The province classes the lake as warm water. The record took effect on 16 February 2017, and it compiles what field biologists had reported by then. The province’s other records for the lake name five further species, among them lake whitefish, cisco and burbot. They appear in the records below.

Seven of the nine species in the province’s records

Lake Whitefishtrout and whitefish
Ciscotrout and whitefish
Northern Pikepike
Walleyeperch
Smallmouth Basssunfish
Largemouth Basssunfish
Burbotcod

The other two species in the province’s records
Family	Species
Trout and whitefish	lake trout
Sucker	white sucker

Spawning areas

Ontario maps 3 fish spawning records within the Red Cedar Lake outline: 3 walleye spawning areas covering 5.97 hectares.

By number of records

By area mapped

Walleye3 areas6.0 ha

Spawning records mapped by the province within the Red Cedar 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.

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 Red Cedar Lake run from 1946 to 2005 and hold 48 releases. Walleye account for most of the fish: 2,336,010 released in eleven of the years between 1946 and 1991. The last recorded release was 2,244 lake trout sub-adults in 2005.

Fish released into Red Cedar Lake, 1946 to 2005
Species	Years	Years with a release	Fish released
Walleye	1946 to 1991	11	2,336,010
Lake Trout	1946 to 2005	25	78,274
Smallmouth Bass	1946 to 1954	6	18,700

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

Eating the fish

The 2025 Guide to Eating Ontario Fish carries consumption advice for seven species taken from Red Cedar Lake, tested for contaminants at a sampling location in McCallum Twp., Nipissing 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

Lake Whitefish Mercury
Length, cm	15 to 20	20 to 25	25 to 30	30 to 35	35 to 40	40 to 45	45 to 50	50 to 55	55 to 60
General population	32	32	32	32	32	32	16	16	16
Sensitive population	16	16	16	16	12	12	12	8	8

Cisco Mercury
Length, cm	15 to 20	20 to 25	25 to 30	30 to 35	35 to 40	40 to 45
General population	32	32	32	16	16	16
Sensitive population	16	16	12	8	4	4

Walleye Mercury
Length, cm	15 to 20	20 to 25	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
General population	16	16	12	12	8	8	4	4	4	2	2	0
Sensitive population	8	8	4	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Northern Pike Mercury
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	70 to 75	over 75
General population	16	16	16	12	8	8	8	4	4	2
Sensitive population	8	8	4	4	4	0	0	0	0	0

Smallmouth Bass Mercury
Length, cm	20 to 25	25 to 30	30 to 35	35 to 40	40 to 45	45 to 50
General population	32	16	12	8	4	4
Sensitive population	16	8	4	4	0	0

Burbot Mercury
Length, cm	40 to 45	45 to 50	50 to 55	55 to 60	60 to 65
General population	8	8	4	4	4
Sensitive population	0	0	0	0	0

White Sucker Mercury
Length, cm	35 to 40	40 to 45	45 to 50	50 to 55
General population	32	32	16	16
Sensitive population	16	12	8	4

Fisheries Management Zone 11

Red Cedar Lake lies in Fisheries Management Zone 11. Ontario sets its fishing seasons and catch limits by zone.

Zone 11 seasons and limits, 2026
Species	Open season	Sport licence	Conservation licence
Brook Trout	Feb. 15 – Sept. 30	5, not more than 1 greater than 31 cm (12.2 in.)	2, none greater than 31 cm (12.2 in.)
Brown Trout	4th Sat. in Apr. – Sept. 30	5	2
Channel Catfish	Open all year	12	6
Crappie	Open all year	30	10
Lake Trout	February 15 to third Sunday in March and third Saturday in May to Labour Day	2; not more than 1 greater than 40 cm	1
Lake Whitefish	Open all year	12	6
Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass or any combination	January 1 to third Sunday in March and third Saturday in May to December 31	6	2
Muskellunge	3rd Sat. in June – Dec. 15	1, must be greater than 122 cm (48 in.)	0
Northern Pike	Jan. 1 – 3rd Sun. in Mar. & 3rd Sat. in May – Dec. 31	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.)
Pacific Salmon	Open all year	5	2
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 – 3rd Sun. in Mar. & 3rd Sat. in May – Dec. 31	4, none between 43 – 60 cm (16.9 – 23.6 in.), not more than 1 greater than 60 cm (23.6 in.)	2, none between 43 – 60 cm (16.9 – 23.6 in.), not more than 1 greater than 60 cm (23.6 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. No waterbody exception names Red Cedar Lake.

Red Cedar Lake Ice Fishing

An ice hut on Red Cedar Lake must be removed by March 31. Red Cedar Lake lies in fisheries management zone 11, 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 11 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 Red Cedar Lake on any given day. Ontario publishes ice safety guidance for anyone going out on the ice, at ontario.ca.

Islands and names

Red Cedar Lake contains 94 islands in the Ontario Hydro Network’s outline, six of them over 10 hectares and 44 under a tenth of a hectare.

The ten largest islands, numbered to the table. Areas are measured on the province’s outline.

The ten largest islands
	Island	Hectares
1	unnamed	39.0
2	unnamed	37.5
3	unnamed	13.8
4	unnamed	11.9
5	unnamed	11.3
6	unnamed	10.7
7	unnamed	8.9
8	unnamed	3.5
9	unnamed	3.2
10	unnamed	2.9

Official names

Ontario’s geographic names register lists 3 official names on the water and its islands: two bays.

Bays 2

Campten Bay
Loon Bay

Nearby lakes

Lake Temagami33 km away
Rabbit Lake40 km away
Obabika Lake43 km away
Cassels Lake44 km away

All lakes

Questions about Red Cedar Lake

How deep is Red Cedar Lake?
Its deepest charted contour is 30.5 meters, and the water within it is deeper.
How big is Red Cedar Lake?
Its surface covers 23.4 square kilometers and it holds 94 islands. Of its 165 kilometers of shoreline, 130 kilometers is the mainland shore and 35 kilometers is the shore of the islands.
What fish are in Red Cedar Lake?
Ontario’s aquatic resource records name four species: walleye, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and northern pike. The lake’s spawning, consumption and stocking records also name lake whitefish, cisco, burbot and lake trout.

A print of Red Cedar Lake

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

Ask about a Red Cedar Lake print

Looking at a property on Red Cedar 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 Red Cedar 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.
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.
Aerial photography: Ontario Imagery Web Map Service, Open Government Licence – Ontario, drawing this frame from Central Ontario Orthophotography Project 2021, Central Ontario Orthophotography Project 2016, Forest Resource Inventory T2 (T2) 2018-2027 and Sentinel 2 2025, satellite.
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; 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.