Ontario Lake Depths
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McLeod Lake

Thunder Bay District, Ontario · MNRF bathymetric survey
42.7m Mapped depth
140 ft
303 ha 9 contours
Paddling Index81Very GoodMedium confidencewooded shoreline · away from major roads · sheltered geometry
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Depth scale

The lake

Survey readout

McLeod Lake is mapped to a depth of 42.7 m (140 ft) on the Ontario MNRF survey and covers about 303 ha (750 acres) in Thunder Bay District, Ontario.

Measured from the Ontario MNRF bathymetry survey.

Deepest mapped contour
42.7 m (140 ft)
Surface area
303 ha (750 acres)
Shoreline
31.4 km (19.5 mi) · irregular
Fishing access
No MNRF fishing access point listed within 100 m (the list is incomplete)
Additional depth details9 contours
Contour depths
0–42.7 m (140 ft)
Deep-spot markers
42.7 m (140 ft)
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Chart data

Provenance

Sources: Ontario MNRF / LIO Bathymetry, Ontario FRI Leaf-On Imagery, Ontario FRI LiDAR DTM, OpenStreetMap (ODbL), Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.

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Map details & sources5 sources

All layers registered to one bounding box; positions in WGS 84.

Survey-derived depth contours drape over Ontario LiDAR (FRI DTM) elevation, with a Ontario FRI aerial basemap and OpenStreetMap shoreline. Colour shows surveyed depth; dark lines are the survey's own isobaths.

Coordinates
49.53406, -86.55450
MNRF lake ID
16-5340-54876
Vertical exaggeration
1.4×
Basemap
Ontario FRI
Model size
1.4 MB

Check the source: this lake’s record (16-5340-54876) in the Ontario MNRF bathymetry index, and the contour line layer the map is drawn from (Land Information Ontario open data, Open Government Licence – Ontario). Survey year: not recorded in the source. This model was built 2026-09-07. Depths between contours are interpolated, not measured.

Paddling

Paddling Index methodology v1.0 · calculated 2026-09-16
81 / 100Very GoodData confidence: Medium

McLeod Lake has a heavily wooded and largely undeveloped setting, generally sheltered geometry, limited nearby major-road exposure.

Why this score?5 components

Included in the index

ComponentRatingPoints of weightMeasurement
Natural settingExcellent40.5 of 4394% natural land cover within 150 m of shore (81% forest, 3% wetland; 0% developed)
Geometric wind exposureVery Good24.1 of 36mean fetch 904 m · 11% of sampled water within 500 m of shelter · generally short fetch
Motor & speed rulesNot modelled—Canada publishes vessel motor and speed restrictions as federal legal schedules, not map data, so they are not part of the Ontario index. Check local signage and Transport Canada rules before going out.
Public accessNot listed—No publicly listed MNRF fishing access point within 100 m of this shoreline. Municipal, private and informal launches are not all in this source, so this is not evidence that access is poor — the component is excluded and the remaining weights are renormalized.
Road isolationVery Good16.4 of 21limited nearby major-road exposure · 11 Ontario Road Network segments within 1.2 km (traffic estimated from road class, not measured)

Additional paddling considerations

These describe the lake but are not part of the v1 Paddling Index and do not change the number above.

Wake sensitivity
Low — wide enough that wakes disperse over most of the lake
Observed motorized activity
Unknown — No lake-level measurement of boat traffic is available. Legal permission to operate motors is not evidence of use.
Wildlife habitat potential
High — 81% forest and 3% wetland cover within 150 m of shore
Mapped wildlife habitat
Mapped — Ontario MNRF has mapped moose aquatic feeding areas within 1 km of this lake. These are habitat records from provincial surveys, not animal counts; areas with nothing mapped may still hold wildlife. · Ontario MNRF Wildlife Values Area. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario.
How this index is calculated. The Paddling Index is a relative composite derived from lake geometry and public land-cover, access and road-network data. It is not a user review, a safety rating, or a prediction of an individual outing. Differences of a few points should not be treated as meaningful — an 84 and an 82 are broadly comparable. Components and weights for Ontario lakes: natural setting 35%, geometric wind exposure 29%, public access 18%, road isolation 18%. Motor and speed restrictions are not modelled for Ontario, and road traffic is estimated from road class, not measured. Where a component has no data the remaining weights are renormalized and the confidence rating is lowered; below Medium confidence no number is shown. Ontario scores are relative to other Ontario lakes and are not directly comparable with Paddling Index scores on our sister sites, which use different data sources and include a watercraft-rules component. Sources: Ontario MNRF bathymetry outline (0 m contour or survey index polygon), Ontario Land Cover v1.0, Ontario MNRF (Open Government Licence – Ontario) (2020) and Ontario Road Network (Open Government Licence – Ontario); traffic estimated by road class, not measured (2026-09). Conditions change quickly — check current weather and local conditions before going out.

Angler catch reports

Fish ON-Line · 2018–2024

What anglers say they caught here, logged trip by trip in Ontario’s Fish ON-Line app — most recently in May 2024.

8Trips logged
2Species
11Fish reported

Pictures are sized relative to each other. Illustrations are AI-generated representative adults in everyday colours, not photographs (provenance).

Lake Trout6 of 8 trips · 8 caught
Brown Trout3 of 8 trips · 3 caught

How people fish it: boat 75% · ice 25%
Catch rate: about 0.3 fish an hour, all species together (8 trips, 40 hours logged)
Kept: 91% of the fish reported; the rest were released

Trips are logged voluntarily by anglers in Ontario’s Fish ON-Line app. This is what people report catching, not a Ministry survey, and a species nobody has logged may still be here. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario. Source: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Fish ON-Line. A logged catch does not mean it is legal to catch or keep: check the Ontario Fishing Regulations Summary for this lake’s zone and exceptions.
Quick answers

McLeod Lake — common questions

How deep is McLeod Lake?

The deepest contour on the Ontario MNRF bathymetric survey of McLeod Lake is 42.7 m (140 ft). That is the deepest depth the historical survey map records, which may differ from the deepest point of the lake itself.

How big is McLeod Lake?

McLeod Lake covers about 303 ha (750 acres) in Thunder Bay District, Ontario.

Is there public access to McLeod Lake?

No fishing access point for McLeod Lake appears in the Ontario MNRF fishing access point list (within 100 m of the shoreline). That is not the same as the lake being private -- the MNRF list is incomplete, and many municipal, marina and private launches are not in it.