Thunder Bay District, Ontario
Whitefish Lake
Thirty square kilometers of cool, shallow water southwest of Thunder Bay, with a deepest charted contour of 6 meters and a mean depth of 3.1 meters in the aquatic resource record. Walleye, northern pike, smallmouth bass and yellow perch are listed.
- Surface
- 30.0 km²
- Shoreline
- 36 km32 mainland + 4 islands
- Islands
- 5
- Charted depth
- 6.0 m
- Depth contours
- 14
All figures are derived from Ontario’s survey records.
Where Whitefish Lake is
Whitefish Lake lies in the District of Thunder Bay.
How deep is Whitefish Lake?
The deepest mapped contour on Whitefish Lake is 6.0 meters, and the water within that boundary descends even farther. Ontario’s bathymetry record holds 14 depth contours for Whitefish 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.
Whitefish Lake has 4 Lake Partner monitoring sites. Two have reported phosphorus for the three or more years the province requires before a status is assigned. One of those sites is classified oligotrophic and one mesotrophic.
| Site | Location | Years | Last sampled | Classification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5861/1 | W end | 6 | 2018 | mesotrophic |
| 5861/4 | East | 3 | 2018 | oligotrophic |
The longest record is held by site 5861/1 at W end, sampled over 6 springs to 2018. Its long-term mean phosphorus concentration is 11.22 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 3.85 meters.
Fish in Whitefish Lake
Ontario’s aquatic resource records name 5 fish species in Whitefish Lake. The province classes the lake as cool water. The record took effect on 15 April 2013, 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
Smallmouth Basssunfish
| Family | Species |
|---|---|
| Sucker | white sucker |
Eating the fish
The 2025 Guide to Eating Ontario Fish carries consumption advice for three species taken from Whitefish Lake, tested for contaminants at a sampling location in southwest of Thunder Bay, Strange & Lismore Twps. 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 | 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 | over 75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General population | 32 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Sensitive population | 12 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 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 | over 75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General population | 32 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 |
| Sensitive population | 16 | 16 | 16 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Length, cm | 15 to 20 | 20 to 25 | 25 to 30 |
|---|---|---|---|
| General population | 32 | 16 | 16 |
| Sensitive population | 12 | 8 | 8 |
Fisheries Management Zone 6
Whitefish Lake lies in Fisheries Management Zone 6. Ontario sets its fishing seasons and catch limits by zone.
| Species | Open season | Sport licence | Conservation licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Salmon | Open all year | 1 | 0 |
| Brook Trout | 4th Sat. in Apr. – Labour Day | 5, not more than 1 greater than 30 cm (11.8 in.) | 2, not more than 1 greater than 30 cm (11.8 in.) |
| Brown Trout | Open all year | 5 | 2 |
| Channel Catfish | Open all year | 12 | 6 |
| Crappie | Open all year | 15 | 10 |
| Lake Trout | Jan. 1 – Sept. 30 | 2, not more than 1 greater than 56 cm (22 in.) from Sept. 1 – Sept. 30; no size limit rest of year | 1, no size limit |
| Lake Whitefish | Open all year | 12 | 6 |
| Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass or any combination | Open all year | 4 | 2 |
| Muskellunge | 3rd Sat. in June – Dec. 15 | 1, must be greater than 91 cm (36 in.) | 0 |
| Northern Pike | Open all year | 4, not more than 1 greater than or equal to 70 cm (27.6 in.) | 2, not more than 1 greater than or equal to 70 cm (27.6 in.) |
| Pacific Salmon | Open all year | 5 | 2 |
| Rainbow Trout | Open all year | 1 | 0 |
| 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. Zone-wide, Smelt may not be used as bait or possessed for use as bait except where exceptions apply.
| Species | Open season | Sport licence | Conservation licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow Perch | Zone-wide | 50 in one day; 100 | 25 |
Where a row reads zone-wide, the zone’s own season or limit above applies.
Islands and names
Whitefish Lake contains 5 islands in the Ontario Hydro Network’s outline, zero of them over 10 hectares and one under a tenth of a hectare. One of them lies inside a wetland mapped in the province’s Wetland With Significance dataset.
| Island | Hectares | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | unnamed | 7.0 |
| 2 | unnamed | 2.0 |
| 3 | unnamed | 0.5 |
| 4 | unnamed | 0.0 |
Nearby lakes
- Upper Shebandowan Lake55 km away
- Hawkeye Lake66 km away
- Dog Lake71 km away
- Lac des Mille Lacs81 km away
Questions about Whitefish Lake
- How deep is Whitefish Lake?
Its deepest charted contour is 6 meters, and the water within it is deeper.
- How big is Whitefish Lake?
Its surface covers 30.0 square kilometers and it holds 5 islands. Of its 36 kilometers of shoreline, 32 kilometers is the mainland shore and 4 kilometers is the shore of the islands.
- What fish are in Whitefish Lake?
Ontario’s aquatic resource records name five species, among them walleye, smallmouth bass, northern pike and yellow perch.
A print of Whitefish Lake
Whitefish Lake has not yet been drawn as a print. The lakes drawn so far are on the lake maps page, and a print of Whitefish Lake can be requested by email; whether it can be drawn is confirmed before any payment.
Ask about a Whitefish Lake printLooking at a property on Whitefish 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 Whitefish 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 Whitefish 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.
- 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: Ontario Imagery Web Map Service, Open Government Licence – Ontario, drawing this frame from Northwestern Ontario Orthophotography Project 2017, Forest Resource Inventory T2 (T2) 2018-2027, Forest Resources Inventory 2007-2011 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.
- 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. All public domain.