Lake · Haliburton, Ontario
Big Porcupine Lake
At a glance
- Area
- 251 ha (621 acres)
- Mean depth (estimated)
- ≈ 10.1 m (33 ft)
Mean depth: HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016)
This lake's year
A ring of the twelve months, January at the top: the outer band is the ice cover, the inner rings the spawning months of the lake's species, and a needle marks the day this page was updated. The list beside it says the same.
- No published ice dates for this lake.
- 1. Brown bullhead spawns: Apr–Aug (months cited for Great Lakes populations)
- 2. Burbot spawns: Nov–May (months cited for Great Lakes populations)
- 3. Creek chub spawns: Apr–Jul (months cited for Great Lakes populations)
- 4. Golden shiner spawns: May–Aug (months cited for Great Lakes populations)
- 5. Lake trout spawns: Sep–Nov (months cited for Great Lakes populations)
- Needle: Oct 25, the day this page was updated
Spawning months from each species' cited source for this region, for its five best-recorded species here; ice dates from the published record (sources below). Summer layering and fall turnover are drawn only for lakes the USGS has modelled (in the U.S. Midwest).
Who lives here
- Brook trout Salvelinus fontinalisOn the agency's list · Fish species lists: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aquatic Resource Area polygon segments. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario
- Brown bullhead Ameiurus nebulosusOn the agency's list · Fish species lists: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aquatic Resource Area polygon segments. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario
- Burbot Lota lotaOn the agency's list · Fish species lists: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aquatic Resource Area polygon segments. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario
- Creek chub Semotilus atromaculatusOn the agency's list · Fish species lists: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aquatic Resource Area polygon segments. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario
- Golden shiner Notemigonus crysoleucasOn the agency's list · Fish species lists: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aquatic Resource Area polygon segments. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario
- Lake trout Salvelinus namaycushOn the agency's list · Fish species lists: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aquatic Resource Area polygon segments. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario
- Longnose sucker Catostomus catostomusOn the agency's list · Fish species lists: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aquatic Resource Area polygon segments. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario
- Northern pearl dace Margariscus nachtriebiOn the agency's list · Fish species lists: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aquatic Resource Area polygon segments. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario
- White sucker Catostomus commersoniiOn the agency's list · Fish species lists: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aquatic Resource Area polygon segments. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario
- Yellow perch Perca flavescensOn the agency's list · Fish species lists: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aquatic Resource Area polygon segments. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario
Not listed doesn't mean no fish.
Getting on the water
No public access site is listed for this water yet.
Listed by public agencies. A listed site doesn't make the water or its shore open to fishing: when in doubt, it's unknown. Check signs and local rules.
The rules
Summary, not the law. Check the official regulations before you fish.
- Brook troutClosed · 5 a day
- Lake troutClosed · 2 a day
- Yellow perchOpen, any size · 50 a day
As of October 25, 2026, for a fish of any size.
Official regulations: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Official sources:
What's biting
Not enough anglers have shared catches here lately. A species shows for a week once at least 5 anglers share catches of it.
From anglers who chose to share their catches in HuntGrid Fishing, each counted once, counts rounded to the nearest 5, published 3 days after the week ends and never changed. Never a spot, time or name.
About this page
Sources and licences:
- Natural Resources Canada, CanVec Hydro Features (1:50,000). Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.; Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Geographical Names Database (CGNDB); Adapted from Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Boundary Files (census divisions, provinces). This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. · Open Government Licence – Canada 2.0
- Lake mean depth: HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016, Nature Communications 7:13603), CC BY 4.0 · CC BY 4.0
- Fish species lists: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aquatic Resource Area polygon segments. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Ontario · Open Government Licence – Ontario v1.0 (https://www.ontario.ca/page/open-government-licence-ontario, checked 2026-10-19): "The Information Provider grants you a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive licence to use the Information, including for commercial purposes" … "Copy, modify, publish, translate, adapt, distribute or otherwise use the Information in any medium, mode or format for any lawful purpose." data.ontario.ca aquatic-resource-area-polygon-segment: licence OGL-ON-1.0, access open; the map service: "This data is subject to terms of use. https://www.ontario.ca/page/open-government-licence-ontario".
Spawning months:
- Brown bullhead: Goodyear, C.D., T.A. Edsall, D.M. Ormsby Dempsey, G.D. Moss, and P.E. Polanski. 1982. Atlas of the spawning and nursery areas of Great Lakes fishes, Volume XIII: Reproductive characteristics of Great Lakes fishes. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. FWS/OBS-82/52, p. 92 (Great Lakes populations: spawning April-August, usually June or July, at 62-72 °F)
- Burbot: Goodyear, C.D., T.A. Edsall, D.M. Ormsby Dempsey, G.D. Moss, and P.E. Polanski. 1982. Atlas of the spawning and nursery areas of Great Lakes fishes, Volume XIII: Reproductive characteristics of Great Lakes fishes. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. FWS/OBS-82/52, p. 101 (Great Lakes populations: spawning for one week between November and May, varying with locality, at 33-50 °F)
- Creek chub: Goodyear, C.D., T.A. Edsall, D.M. Ormsby Dempsey, G.D. Moss, and P.E. Polanski. 1982. Atlas of the spawning and nursery areas of Great Lakes fishes, Volume XIII: Reproductive characteristics of Great Lakes fishes. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. FWS/OBS-82/52, p. 74 (Great Lakes populations: spawning April to early July at 55-80 °F)
- Golden shiner: Goodyear, C.D., T.A. Edsall, D.M. Ormsby Dempsey, G.D. Moss, and P.E. Polanski. 1982. Atlas of the spawning and nursery areas of Great Lakes fishes, Volume XIII: Reproductive characteristics of Great Lakes fishes. U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. FWS/OBS-82/52, p. 56 (Great Lakes populations: spawning mid-May to early August at 60-80 °F, peak mid-June-July; it may continue all summer)
- Lake trout: Marcus, M.D., W.A. Hubert and S.H. Anderson. 1984. Habitat suitability index models: Lake trout (exclusive of the Great Lakes). U.S. Fish Wildl. Serv. FWS/OBS-82/10.84 (habitat use information: temperature that cues spawning (varies by lake)); p. 3 (spawning months: Great Lakes, New York, New Hampshire, Maine; mid-August to mid-September in Great Bear and Great Slave lakes)
The outline is drawn from the official water data credited above, without a basemap. These pages show no angler's catches, spots or tracks.