Ontario Lake Depths

Panfish · sunfish family

Crappie

Pomoxis nigromaculatus (white crappie, Pomoxis annularis) · also called marigane noire, marigane blanche

Native to OntarioRecorded in 129 Ontario lakes

Black crappie are native to the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence, Ottawa River and Lake of the Woods waters, but populations in the Kawartha Lakes were introduced.

Illustration of a crappie in side view
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph and not to scale.
Typical adult
18–25 cm (7–10 in) for black crappie
Found in
Clear, quiet, weedy lakes, bays and slow rivers
Spawns
May–June in guarded nests
Eats
Invertebrates and small fish
Favours
Water of about 21–25 °C (70–77 °F)

Where crappie have been recorded

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

Lake Nipissing, Nipissing DistrictLake Simcoe, York RegionWabigoon Lake, Kenora DistrictRice Lake, Peterborough CountySturgeon Lake, Kawartha LakesPigeon Lake, Peterborough CountyLake of Bays, MuskokaLake Scugog, Durham RegionBalsam Lake, Kawartha LakesDinorwic Lake, Kenora DistrictBig Rideau Lake, Leeds and GrenvilleCharleston Lake, Leeds and GrenvilleBobs Lake, Frontenac CountyMississippi Lake, Lanark CountyWhite Lake, Lanark CountyWeslemkoon Lake, Lennox and Addington CountyBaptiste Lake, Hastings CountyWahwashkesh Lake, Parry Sound DistrictLake Vernon, MuskokaAhmic Lake, Parry Sound DistrictChandos Lake, Peterborough CountyJack Lake, Peterborough CountyLake Dore, Renfrew CountyGloucester Pool, Simcoe CountyDalrymple Lake, Kawartha LakesCalabogie Lake, Renfrew CountyRestoule Lake, Parry Sound DistrictKashwakamak Lake, Frontenac CountyNepewassi Lake, Sudbury DistrictLower Buckhorn Lake, Peterborough CountyDoe Lake, Parry Sound DistrictMuskrat Lake, Renfrew CountyEcho Lake, Algoma DistrictChemong Lake, Peterborough CountySparrow Lake, Simcoe CountyCrowe Lake, Hastings CountyMary Lake, MuskokaEels Lake, Peterborough CountySand Lake, Leeds and GrenvilleDog Lake, Frontenac CountyCameron Lake, Kawartha LakesKashagawigamog Lake, Haliburton CountyBelmont Lake, Peterborough CountyFour Mile Lake, Kawartha LakesBuckhorn Lake, Peterborough CountyFairy Lake, MuskokaSydenham Lake, Frontenac CountyEagle Lake, Frontenac CountyChristie Lake, Lanark CountyLake St. John, Simcoe CountyLake Belwood, Wellington CountyAnstruther Lake, Peterborough CountyUpper Beverley Lake, Leeds and GrenvilleConestogo Lake, Wellington CountyDalhousie Lake, Lanark CountyEsten Lake, Algoma DistrictOtter Lake, Leeds and GrenvilleBlindfold Lake, Kenora DistrictCrystal Lake, Peterborough CountyWhitefish Lake, Leeds and GrenvilleOff Lake, Rainy River DistrictOttertail Lake, Algoma DistrictMuldrew Lakes, MuskokaHorseshoe Lake, Parry Sound DistrictDesert Lake, Frontenac CountyBig Clear Lake, Frontenac CountyMorrison Lake, MuskokaHungry Lake, Frontenac CountyNorway Lake, Renfrew CountyIndian Lake, Leeds and GrenvillePigeon River, Kawartha LakesGibson Lake, MuskokaBuck Lake, Parry Sound DistrictCanning Lake, Haliburton CountySilver Lake, Frontenac CountyLittle Lake, BarrieBig Cedar Lake, Peterborough CountyBig Bald Lake, Peterborough CountyRoyal Lake, Kenora DistrictMoore Lake, Haliburton CountyBottle Lake, Peterborough CountyHowes Lake, Frontenac CountyRiley Lake, MuskokaApungsisagen Lake, Rainy River DistrictKingsford Lake, Frontenac CountyBull Lake, Frontenac CountyElbow Lake, Frontenac CountyConger Lake, Parry Sound DistrictBass Lake, Peterborough CountyKaministiquia River, Thunder Bay DistrictMacLean Lake, Simcoe CountyTea Lake, Simcoe CountyFarlain Lake, Simcoe CountyLittle Bald Lake, Peterborough CountySheffield Long Lake, Lennox and Addington CountyWhalley Lake, Parry Sound DistrictCrawford Lake, Parry Sound DistrictLittle Hannah Lake, Sudbury DistrictBlack Lake, Haliburton CountyGrass Lake, Haliburton CountyGrand River section, Waterloo RegionHead Lake, Haliburton CountyHorseshoe Lake, Simcoe CountySilver Lake, Bruce CountyWilcox Lake, York RegionSt. Andrews Lake, Frontenac CountyLong Lake, Leeds and GrenvilleRaccoon Lake, Peterborough CountyBat Lake, Haliburton CountySt. Charles Lake, Sudbury DistrictBlack Lake, Frontenac CountyBroder Lake 23, Sudbury DistrictLyndhurst Lake, Leeds and GrenvilleMyers Lake, MuskokaDoe Lake, Frontenac CountyBucke Lake, Parry Sound DistrictBlack Lake, Haliburton CountyPorridge Lake, Algoma DistrictLoon Lake, Lanark CountyHeart Lake, Peel RegionGrenadier Pond, TorontoWaterford Ponds (Middle Pond), Norfolk CountyBond Lake, York RegionStevenson Lake, Renfrew CountySand Lake, Renfrew CountyLake Hunger, Norfolk CountyIsland Lake, York RegionJohnson Lake, Sudbury DistrictKelly Lake, York Region

Recorded here Other lakes with catch reports

How we know

  • 129lakes where an angler logged one in Fish ON-Line; on 70 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 4 to 221,497 acres (median 948) and from 5 to 300 ft deep (median 50 ft).

When and how anglers catch crappie

From 265 trip reports naming crappie 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 (23% of trips); 19% were logged December–February (lighter bars).

How they were fishing

From a boat52%
From shore26%
Through the ice22%

Share of the 265 trips that recorded boat, shore or ice.

Fish reported

1,417 crappie reported on these trips. Anglers kept 39% of the ones they reported and released the rest. The app records no sizes.

Lakes on this site with the most trips

  1. Bobs Lake, Frontenac 9
  2. Lake Scugog, Durham Region 9
  3. Lake St. John, Simcoe 7
  4. Sand Lake, Renfrew 7
  5. Buckhorn Lake, Peterborough 6
  6. Lake Nipissing, Nipissing District 6
  7. Rice Lake, Peterborough 6
  8. Waterford Ponds (Middle Pond), Norfolk 6
  9. Chemong Lake, Peterborough 5
  10. Grenadier Pond, Toronto 5

Trips that logged this fish on each lake. A busy lake gets more trips; this is not a ranking of fishing quality. 70 of the 129 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

A deep-bodied, silvery panfish with a large mouth. Black crappie carry an irregular mosaic of black blotches and 7–8 spines in the dorsal fin; white crappie have faint vertical bars and 6 dorsal spines.

Don’t confuse it with

White crappie — White crappie have 6 dorsal spines and faint vertical bars instead of scattered blotches, and in Ontario live only in the lower Great Lakes area.

Up close

Illustration of a black crappie's head and front half from the side, with seven spines at the front of the dorsal fin and irregular black speckles on the sides.
Black crappie: seven dorsal spines; the dorsal fin's base is about as long as the distance from the eye to the fin; irregular black speckles, not bars.
Illustration of a white crappie's head and front half from the side, with six spines at the front of the dorsal fin and dark vertical bars on pale silvery sides.
White crappie: six dorsal spines; the dorsal fin's base is shorter than the distance from the eye to the fin; dark vertical bars on silvery sides.

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

Most crappie in Ontario lakes are black crappie, which are common in southern Ontario,. The white crappie is uncommon here, limited to the lower Great Lakes area and connecting rivers, where it favours tributary mouths and weedy, sheltered bays and copes better with muddy water.

Black crappie school in warm, clear, weedy water with little current, staying near cover and moving to deeper water with the seasons. They feed most in low light and on overcast days. Both species spawn in late spring in nests that are guarded, and the two sometimes hybridize.

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 129 lakes with crappie

Show every lake, by county

Algoma District 4

Echo Lake, Esten Lake, Ottertail Lake, Porridge Lake

Barrie 1

Little Lake

Bruce County 1

Silver Lake

Durham Region 1

Lake Scugog

Frontenac County 16

Big Clear Lake, Black Lake, Bobs Lake, Bull Lake, Desert Lake, Doe Lake, Dog Lake, Eagle Lake, Elbow Lake, Howes Lake, Hungry Lake, Kashwakamak Lake, Kingsford Lake, Silver Lake, St. Andrews Lake, Sydenham Lake

Haliburton County 8

Bat Lake, Black Lake, Black Lake, Canning Lake, Grass Lake, Head Lake, Kashagawigamog Lake, Moore Lake

Hastings County 2

Baptiste Lake, Crowe Lake

Kawartha Lakes 6

Balsam Lake, Cameron Lake, Dalrymple Lake, Four Mile Lake, Pigeon River, Sturgeon Lake

Kenora District 4

Blindfold Lake, Dinorwic Lake, Royal Lake, Wabigoon Lake

Lanark County 5

Christie Lake, Dalhousie Lake, Loon Lake, Mississippi Lake, White Lake

Leeds and Grenville 9

Big Rideau Lake, Charleston Lake, Indian Lake, Long Lake, Lyndhurst Lake, Otter Lake, Sand Lake, Upper Beverley Lake, Whitefish Lake

Lennox and Addington County 2

Sheffield Long Lake, Weslemkoon Lake

Muskoka 9

Fairy Lake, Gibson Lake, Lake Vernon, Lake of Bays, Mary Lake, Morrison Lake, Muldrew Lakes, Myers Lake, Riley Lake

Nipissing District 1

Lake Nipissing

Norfolk County 2

Lake Hunger, Waterford Ponds (Middle Pond)

Parry Sound District 10

Ahmic Lake, Buck Lake, Bucke Lake, Conger Lake, Crawford Lake, Doe Lake, Horseshoe Lake, Restoule Lake, Wahwashkesh Lake, Whalley Lake

Peel Region 1

Heart Lake

Peterborough County 17

Anstruther Lake, Bass Lake, Belmont Lake, Big Bald Lake, Big Cedar Lake, Bottle Lake, Buckhorn Lake, Chandos Lake, Chemong Lake, Crystal Lake, Eels Lake, Jack Lake, Little Bald Lake, Lower Buckhorn Lake, Pigeon Lake, Raccoon Lake, Rice Lake

Rainy River District 2

Apungsisagen Lake, Off Lake

Renfrew County 6

Calabogie Lake, Lake Dore, Muskrat Lake, Norway Lake, Sand Lake, Stevenson Lake

Simcoe County 7

Farlain Lake, Gloucester Pool, Horseshoe Lake, Lake St. John, MacLean Lake, Sparrow Lake, Tea Lake

Sudbury District 5

Broder Lake 23, Johnson Lake, Little Hannah Lake, Nepewassi Lake, St. Charles Lake

Thunder Bay District 1

Kaministiquia River

Toronto 1

Grenadier Pond

Waterloo Region 1

Grand River section

Wellington County 2

Conestogo Lake, Lake Belwood

York Region 5

Bond Lake, Island Lake, Kelly Lake, Lake Simcoe, Wilcox Lake

Sources

← All fish of Ontario