Cottages For Sale on Sturgeon Lake

Owning a cottage on Sturgeon Lake

Sturgeon Lake is shaped like a Y, with a town at the tip of each arm. Fenelon Falls is at the northwest end, Lindsay sits up the Scugog River to the south, and Bobcaygeon is at the northeast. Sturgeon Point sits near the middle, where the arms meet. Few cottage lakes in Ontario have this much town within easy reach by boat or by car.

It is shallow. The average depth is only about 3.5 m, and over a third of the lake is less than 3 m deep. That makes for warm swimming water, plenty of weed beds and good fishing, but also a lake that gets choppy fast in a wind and grows thick plant beds in sheltered bays and canals by midsummer.

The shore is busy. About 1,800 homes and cottages line it, at roughly 46 buildings per kilometre of shoreline, and the average lot frontage is only a little over 20 m. The lake feels more like a waterfront community than a remote retreat, which suits buyers who want neighbours, town services and a hospital close by rather than wilderness and long drives for supplies.

• Y-shaped lake
• Three towns by boat
• Trent-Severn boating
• Muskie and walleye

History of Sturgeon Lake

Indigenous peoples lived in this region long before European settlement. In the 1800s the lake carried steamboats and log drives, and the forests around it were cleared for timber and farms.

Bobcaygeon was the start of the Trent-Severn Waterway. Work on a lock at the narrows between Sturgeon and Pigeon lakes began in 1833, the first on the system, and the dam there raised Sturgeon Lake by about six feet. Fenelon Falls followed later in the century, with lock construction starting in 1885.

By the middle of the 1900s the lake had become badly overfed with nutrients and saw frequent algae blooms. Water quality has improved a great deal since, though a blue-green algae bloom in 2011 led to an advisory on the eastern arm.

Three locks, three towns

Sturgeon is a hub on the Trent-Severn. Lock 32 at Bobcaygeon was the busiest lock on the whole waterway in 2012, with about 8,000 boats. Lock 34 at Fenelon Falls handled about 7,000. Lock 33 at Lindsay is the only boat route up to Lake Scugog.

That means a lot of cruisers on summer weekends, especially along the route from Fenelon Falls to Bobcaygeon. Lots on quieter bays, such as the southwestern arm toward Lindsay, see less through traffic.

Shallow water, weeds and wind

Most of the lake's water comes from Cameron Lake, and it flows through quickly, about twenty times a year on average. The southwest bays, such as McLarens Bay and Goose Bay, hold water longer and tend to be weedier.

Zebra mussels have been in the lake since the mid-1990s. Clearer water lets light reach the bottom, and aquatic plants have become more prolific, especially in shallow bays and canals. If you want a clean, firm swimming entry, look closely at the water in front of the lot in mid-summer, not just in May.

Walleye and muskie water

Walleye, muskellunge and both kinds of bass are the main sport fish, and at least 39 species have been recorded in the lake and its feeder streams. A few lake herring live in the deeper northeastern arm.

Zone 17 rules apply, including a 35 to 50 cm walleye window. The river stretches below the Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls dams are seasonal fish sanctuaries.

Water quality and beach postings

Sturgeon Lake is considered moderately productive. Lake-wide phosphorus now sits below the provincial objective of 20 micrograms per litre, and only Snug Harbour exceeds it. In 2011, a harmful blue-green algae bloom led to a water-use advisory on the eastern arm between Sturgeon Point and Bobcaygeon.

The lake has five public beaches: Bobcaygeon Beach Park, Riverview, Centennial, Verulam Recreational and Sturgeon Point. Three of them are often posted unsafe after rain.

Services and hospital access

No other Kawartha lake has this much on its doorstep. Lindsay has the widest range of shopping and Ross Memorial Hospital, the only hospital in the City of Kawartha Lakes, with a 24-hour emergency department. Bobcaygeon serves as a regional hub for the communities around it, and Fenelon Falls has its own schools and village services.