Ontario Lake Depths
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Minnow Lake

Nipissing District, Ontario · MNRF bathymetric survey
10m Mapped depth
33 ft
58 ha 5 contours
Paddling Index92ExcellentMedium confidenceaway from major roads · wooded shoreline · sheltered geometry
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Depth scale

The lake

Survey readout

Minnow Lake is mapped to a depth of 10 m (33 ft) on the Ontario MNRF survey and covers about 58 ha (144 acres) in Nipissing District, Ontario. Depths come from the Ontario MNRF survey of 1989.

Measured from the Ontario MNRF bathymetry survey.

Deepest mapped contour
10 m (33 ft)
Survey year
1989
Surface area
58 ha (144 acres)
Shoreline
8.4 km (5.2 mi) · irregular
Fishing access
No MNRF launch listed · check with Algonquin Provincial Park
In
Algonquin Provincial Park · Ontario Parks
Additional depth details5 contours
Contour depths
0–10 m (33 ft)
Deep-spot markers
10 m (33 ft)
Compare with another lake
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
45.49788, -78.83547
MNRF lake ID
17-6680-50405
Vertical exaggeration
2.56× below the waterline; land at true scale
Basemap
Ontario FRI
Model size
0.3 MB

Check the source: this lake’s record (17-6680-50405) 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: 1989. This model was built 2026-09-15. Depths between contours are interpolated, not measured.

Paddling

Paddling Index methodology v1.0 · calculated 2026-09-16
92 / 100ExcellentData confidence: Medium

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

Why this score?5 components

Included in the index

ComponentRatingPoints of weightMeasurement
Natural settingExcellent42.8 of 4399% natural land cover within 150 m of shore (85% forest, 12% wetland; 0% developed)
Geometric wind exposureVery Good28.1 of 36mean fetch 700 m · 19% 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 isolationExcellent21.4 of 21relatively isolated from major roads · 0 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 — 85% forest and 12% 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.
Quick answers

Minnow Lake — common questions

How deep is Minnow Lake?

The deepest contour on the Ontario MNRF bathymetric survey of Minnow Lake is 10 m (33 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 Minnow Lake?

Minnow Lake covers about 58 ha (144 acres) in Nipissing District, Ontario.

Is there public access to Minnow Lake?

No fishing access point for Minnow Lake appears in the Ontario MNRF fishing access point list (within 100 m of the shoreline), but Minnow Lake lies inside Algonquin Provincial Park (Ontario Parks), which runs its own facilities and is not covered by that data. Check with the park for launch details.