Ontario Lake Depths

Catfish family

Bullheads (brown and yellow)

Ameiurus nebulosus (yellow bullhead, Ameiurus natalis) · also called mudcat

Native to OntarioRecorded in 97 Ontario lakes

Brown bullhead is native across southern, central and northwestern Ontario; yellow bullhead is native but uncommon and limited to southern Ontario.

Illustration of a bullheads in side view
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph and not to scale.
Typical adult
20–36 cm (8–14 in)
Found in
Warm, shallow, weedy water over mud or sand
Spawns
May to June, near 21 °C (70 °F); parents guard the eggs
Eats
Insects, worms, plants, fish eggs and small fish, mostly at night

Where bullheads have been recorded

97 of the 1,347 Ontario lakes on this site with angler catch reports list bullheads, across 27 counties and districts. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

Lake Abitibi, Cochrane DistrictLake Nipissing, Nipissing DistrictLake Simcoe, York RegionManitou Lake, Manitoulin DistrictRice Lake, Peterborough CountyPigeon Lake, Peterborough CountyLake Scugog, Durham RegionCharleston Lake, Leeds and GrenvilleRemi Lake, Cochrane DistrictWhite Lake, Lanark CountyLake Clear, Renfrew CountyNosebonsing lake, Nipissing DistrictJack Lake, Peterborough CountyDalrymple Lake, Kawartha LakesNepewassi Lake, Sudbury DistrictBright Lake, Algoma DistrictMuskrat Lake, Renfrew CountySparrow Lake, Simcoe CountyDunlop Lake, Algoma DistrictLong Lake, Timiskaming DistrictThree Mile Lake, MuskokaKenogami Lake, Timiskaming DistrictBuckhorn Lake, Peterborough CountyMcCarthy Lake, Algoma DistrictLake St. John, Simcoe CountyLake Belwood, Wellington CountyConestogo Lake, Wellington CountyVarty Lake, Lennox and Addington CountyWabagishik Lake, Sudbury DistrictOtter Lake, Leeds and GrenvilleHannah Lake, Sudbury DistrictWhitson Lake, Sudbury DistrictMcCraney Lake, Nipissing DistrictSkeleton Lake, Timiskaming DistrictTwelve Mile Lake, Haliburton CountyFrancklyn Lake, Cochrane DistrictMount Lake, Algoma DistrictOak Lake, Peterborough CountySteenburg Lake, Hastings CountyPigeon River, Kawartha LakesTrout Lake, Algoma DistrictEagle Lake, Haliburton CountySilver Lake, Frontenac CountyFanshawe Lake, LondonBass Lake, Algoma DistrictCaribou Lake, Algoma DistrictLittle Basswood Lake, Algoma DistrictChesley Lake, Bruce CountyPine Lake, Frontenac CountyBig Mink Lake, Hastings CountyJocko Lake, Nipissing DistrictTrout Lake, Renfrew CountyHalfway Lake, Renfrew CountyMosque Lake, Frontenac CountyBourinot Lake, Algoma DistrictMcFarlane Lake, Sudbury DistrictConger Lake, Parry Sound DistrictNepahwin Lake, Sudbury DistrictLittle Trout Lake, Nipissing DistrictSucker Lake, Parry Sound DistrictBelanger Lake, Algoma DistrictAntrim Lake, Sudbury DistrictBrownlee Lake, Algoma DistrictGrundy Lake, Parry Sound DistrictLeech Lake, Sudbury DistrictGrand River section, Waterloo RegionMercer Lake, Nipissing DistrictPopeye Lake, Algoma DistrictLower Island Lake, Algoma DistrictLac Charette, Cochrane DistrictWabun Lake, Renfrew CountyChristie Lake, Algoma DistrictSt. Charles Lake, Sudbury DistrictSummit Lake, Frontenac CountyBannerman Lake, Sudbury DistrictEarl Rowe Lake, Simcoe CountySnare Lake, Algoma DistrictConcession Lake, Peterborough CountyJacks Lake, Simcoe CountyAide Lake, Hastings CountyHeart Lake, Peel RegionGrenadier Pond, TorontoWaterford Ponds (Middle Pond), Norfolk CountyBond Lake, York RegionChain Of Lakes 1, Renfrew CountyLewis Lake 2, Algoma DistrictPotvin Lake, Cochrane DistrictBeaver Lake, Parry Sound DistrictCave Lake, Sudbury DistrictSand Lake, Renfrew CountySteele Lake, Cochrane DistrictLemke Lake, Renfrew CountyIvans Lake, Algoma DistrictSturgeon Lake 7, Algoma DistrictTooeys Lake, Renfrew CountyLower Twin Lake, Renfrew CountyMud Lake, Leeds and Grenville

Recorded here Other lakes with catch reports

How we know

  • 97lakes where an angler logged one in Fish ON-Line; on 73 of them a single trip, one angler’s report

Self-reported by anglers, not a Ministry survey. A lake that isn’t listed may still have them: a lake appears here only once an angler has logged this fish there.

Inland lakes on this list run from 5 to 234,979 acres (median 485) and from 5 to 295 ft deep (median 40 ft).

When and how anglers catch bullheads

From 158 trip reports naming bullheads on the lakes above, logged by anglers in Ontario’s Fish ON-Line app. These are self-reported trips, not a Ministry survey: they show when and how people fish for them, not how many fish a lake holds. A trip that logged two kinds counts once for each.

Trips by month

The busiest month is July (37% of trips); 7% were logged December–February (lighter bars).

How they were fishing

From a boat49%
From shore40%
Through the ice11%

Share of the 158 trips that recorded boat, shore or ice.

Fish reported

626 bullheads reported on these trips. Anglers kept 11% of the ones they reported and released the rest. The app records no sizes.

Lakes on this site with the most trips

  1. Mount Lake, Algoma District 12
  2. Lake Belwood, Wellington 7
  3. Aide Lake, Hastings 5
  4. Conestogo Lake, Wellington 5
  5. Chesley Lake, Bruce 4
  6. Grand River section, Waterloo Region 4
  7. Popeye Lake, Algoma District 4
  8. Bourinot Lake, Algoma District 3
  9. Lake Simcoe, York Region 3
  10. Little Basswood Lake, Algoma District 3

Trips that logged this fish on each lake. A busy lake gets more trips; this is not a ranking of fishing quality. 73 of the 97 lakes are listed on a single trip, one angler’s report.

Often found with

Share of these lakes that also list each fish.

How to recognize it

Small catfish with a broad, flat head, eight whiskers and a square tail; sharp spines in the pectoral and dorsal fins, not the whiskers, cause the sting. Brown bullhead has dark chin whiskers and often mottled sides, while yellow bullhead has pale chin whiskers.

Don’t confuse it with

Channel catfish — Channel catfish has a deeply forked tail and a more pointed snout; bullheads have a square tail.

Up close

Illustration of a black bullhead's head from below, showing dark chin barbels and pectoral spines without large teeth on their back edge.
Black bullhead: dark chin barbels; the back edge of each pectoral spine has no large teeth.
Illustration of a brown bullhead's head from below, showing dark chin barbels, mottled brown edges and strong saw-like teeth on the back edge of each pectoral spine.
Brown bullhead: dark chin barbels; strong saw-like teeth on the back edge of each pectoral spine.
Illustration of a yellow bullhead's head from below, showing pale yellowish-white chin barbels and moderate teeth on the back edge of each pectoral spine.
Yellow bullhead: pale yellowish-white chin barbels; moderate teeth on the back edge of each pectoral spine.

AI-generated close-ups, not photographs, drawn from the cited descriptions. They show what to look for; they are not a substitute for an expert identification (provenance).

Life in an Ontario lake

The brown bullhead is the common bullhead in Ontario, found across the south and generally south of Highways 11 and 17 in the north. It lives near the bottom in warm, slow water such as weedy bays, ponds and sluggish rivers, and copes with very warm, low-oxygen water that few other fish can stand. The yellow bullhead is far less common, found in muddy, heavily vegetated shallows in southern Ontario.

Bullheads spawn in late spring on mud or sand near cover, and one or both parents guard the eggs. In Ontario a brown bullhead takes three to four years to reach about 25 cm and may live 10 to 12 years. A third species, the black bullhead, is uncommon: it occurs in southwestern Ontario and has been introduced in the east.

Source: the sources below.

Rules and eating

Before fishing, check the current Ontario Fishing Regulations Summary for your Fisheries Management Zone, any exceptions for the waterbody, and your licence type. Angler catch reports show what people logged, not what is legal to catch or keep. Fish ON-Line itself (how to use it) maps the zones and exceptions. Before eating fish from a particular lake, check the Guide to Eating Ontario Fish.

All 97 lakes with bullheads

Show every lake, by county

Algoma District 18

Bass Lake, Belanger Lake, Bourinot Lake, Bright Lake, Brownlee Lake, Caribou Lake, Christie Lake, Dunlop Lake, Ivans Lake, Lewis Lake 2, Little Basswood Lake, Lower Island Lake, McCarthy Lake, Mount Lake, Popeye Lake, Snare Lake, Sturgeon Lake 7, Trout Lake

Bruce County 1

Chesley Lake

Cochrane District 6

Francklyn Lake, Lac Charette, Lake Abitibi, Potvin Lake, Remi Lake, Steele Lake

Durham Region 1

Lake Scugog

Frontenac County 4

Mosque Lake, Pine Lake, Silver Lake, Summit Lake

Haliburton County 2

Eagle Lake, Twelve Mile Lake

Hastings County 3

Aide Lake, Big Mink Lake, Steenburg Lake

Kawartha Lakes 2

Dalrymple Lake, Pigeon River

Lanark County 1

White Lake

Leeds and Grenville 3

Charleston Lake, Mud Lake, Otter Lake

Lennox and Addington County 1

Varty Lake

London 1

Fanshawe Lake

Manitoulin District 1

Manitou Lake

Muskoka 1

Three Mile Lake

Nipissing District 6

Jocko Lake, Lake Nipissing, Little Trout Lake, McCraney Lake, Mercer Lake, Nosebonsing lake

Norfolk County 1

Waterford Ponds (Middle Pond)

Parry Sound District 4

Beaver Lake, Conger Lake, Grundy Lake, Sucker Lake

Peel Region 1

Heart Lake

Peterborough County 6

Buckhorn Lake, Concession Lake, Jack Lake, Oak Lake, Pigeon Lake, Rice Lake

Renfrew County 10

Chain Of Lakes 1, Halfway Lake, Lake Clear, Lemke Lake, Lower Twin Lake, Muskrat Lake, Sand Lake, Tooeys Lake, Trout Lake, Wabun Lake

Simcoe County 4

Earl Rowe Lake, Jacks Lake, Lake St. John, Sparrow Lake

Sudbury District 11

Antrim Lake, Bannerman Lake, Cave Lake, Hannah Lake, Leech Lake, McFarlane Lake, Nepahwin Lake, Nepewassi Lake, St. Charles Lake, Wabagishik Lake, Whitson Lake

Timiskaming District 3

Kenogami Lake, Long Lake, Skeleton Lake

Toronto 1

Grenadier Pond

Waterloo Region 1

Grand River section

Wellington County 2

Conestogo Lake, Lake Belwood

York Region 2

Bond Lake, Lake Simcoe

Sources

← All fish of Ontario