Whitefish Lake

Where Whitefish Lake is

Whitefish Lake lies in the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, with shoreline in the Township of Rideau Lakes and the Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands.

How deep is Whitefish Lake?

The deepest mapped contour on Whitefish Lake is 7.6 meters, and the water within that boundary descends even farther. Ontario’s bathymetry record holds 42 depth contours for Whitefish Lake.

See also Ontario's Largest and Deepest Lakes

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 water samples for phosphorus analysis and measure water clarity through the summer with a Secchi disk. Most sites are sampled for phosphorus once a year, in spring, and some several times a year between spring and fall. Phosphorus in many lakes rises through the summer, so the two kinds of average are measured on different bases.

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 average phosphorus:

• Oligotrophic, below 10 micrograms per litre: clear water and low algae.
• Mesotrophic, from 10 to 20: moderately productive water, with more algae and weed growth than an oligotrophic lake but rarely a bloom.
• Eutrophic, above 20: nutrient-rich water, prone to algal blooms and low oxygen at depth.

Whitefish Lake has 4 Lake Partner monitoring sites. Four have reported phosphorus for the three or more years the province requires before a status is assigned. All are classified mesotrophic.

The longest record is held by site 6632/1 at S end, deep spot, with phosphorus sampled several times a year between spring and fall over 21 years to 2025. Its long-term mean phosphorus concentration is 13.49 micrograms per litre, within the mesotrophic band, which runs from 10 to 20.

A Secchi disk is a 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.

The 93 clarity readings at site 6632/1 give a median Secchi depth of 3.6 meters.

Median Secchi depth by year at site 6632/1

See also Lake Water Quality and Blue-Green Algae in Ontario

Fish in Whitefish Lake

Ontario’s aquatic resource records name 20 fish species in Whitefish Lake.

Popular species in the province’s records

• Northern Pikepike
• Yellow Perchperch
• Smallmouth Basssunfish
• Largemouth Basssunfish
• Black Crappiesunfish
• Rock Basssunfish
• Pumpkinseedsunfish
• Bluegillsunfish
• Brown Bullheadcatfish

Spawning areas

Ontario maps 21 fish spawning records within the Whitefish Lake outline: 21 largemouth bass spawning areas covering 26.61 hectares. Every record is recorded as verified and presently suitable, and none is classed as sensitive.

By number of records

By area mapped

• Largemouth Bass21 areas26.6 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 Whitefish Lake run from 1947 to 1978 and hold 44 releases. Largemouth Bass account for most of the fish: 360,100 released in 24 of the years between 1950 and 1978. The last recorded release was 10,000 largemouth bass frys in 1978.

The province’s record of stocking for recreational fishing, kept from 2016, lists no release into Whitefish Lake.

Eating the fish

The 2026 Guide to Eating Ontario Fish carries consumption advice for four species taken from Whitefish Lake, tested for contaminants at a sampling location in S. Crosby Twp., Leeds Co. Each figure below is the most meals a month the guide advises for a fish of that length. Where mercury sets the advice, the figure 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

Fisheries Management Zone 18

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

Fisheries management zones around Whitefish Lake

See also Fishing Seasons in Ontario, Zone by Zone and Fish Stocking in Ontario Lakes

Whitefish Lake Ice Fishing

An ice hut on Whitefish Lake must be removed by March 15. The province sets dates for ice hut removal as a safety measure to ensure huts are removed before thawing occurs. One date applies to an entire fisheries management zone (FMZ). Whitefish Lake lies within FMZ 18.

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 FMZ 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 Whitefish Lake on any given day. Ontario publishes ice safety guidance for anyone going out on the ice, at ontario.ca.

See also Lake Ice in Ontario

Islands and names

Whitefish Lake contains 27 islands in the Ontario Hydro Network’s outline, one of them over 10 hectares and seventeen under a tenth of a hectare. Three of them lie mostly inside wetland the province’s Wetland With Significance dataset maps as marsh or unclassified wetland. Hog Island, at 17 hectares, is larger than the next ten together, which cover 6.8.

Official names

Ontario’s geographic names register lists 14 official names on the water and its islands: 7 islands, three bays, two rocks and one narrows. A further 4 named points stand on the mainland shore.

Bays 3

• Jones Falls Bay
• Morton Bay
• Whites Bay

Shoals and rocks 2

• Chop Rock
• Red Rock

Harbours, cuts and narrows 1

• Murphys Narrows

Points on the shore 4

• Chipmans Point
• Jenny Point
• Paradise Point
• Whites Point

Nearby lakes

• Sand Lake6 km away
• Red Horse Lake12 km away
• Newboro Lake14 km away
• Dog Lake16 km away

All lakes

Questions about Whitefish Lake

• How deep is Whitefish Lake?

  Its deepest charted contour is 7.6 meters, and the water within it is deeper.

• How big is Whitefish Lake?

  Its surface covers 4.4 square kilometers and it holds 27 islands. Of its 49 kilometers of shoreline, 42 kilometers is the mainland shore and 7 kilometers is the shore of the islands.

• What fish are in Whitefish Lake?

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

• Is the water clear?

  All four monitoring sites with a phosphorus status are classified mesotrophic, the middle of the province’s three bands.