Lake Huron

Hiking along Lake Huron’s more rugged shores.

Lake Huron is the lake in the middle of Ontario’s Great Lakes system. It’s the second largest of the Great Lakes by area, and the third largest by volume.

With 30,000 islands, Lake Huron has the most shoreline (6,157 km) of all the Great Lakes.  One of the islands, Manitoulin, is the largest freshwater island in the world. Lake Huron has three basins: the North Channel, Georgian Bay, and the main basin of Lake Huron.  Georgian Bay is the largest bay on the Great Lakes, and is big enough to be counted as one of the world’s 20 largest lakes.

The largest Ontario city on the lake is Sarnia, with a population of 88,000. This city is at Lake Huron’s southernmost tip, where Lake Huron empties into the St. Clair River en route to Lakes St. Clair and Erie.

Lake Huron supports a significant salmon and trout sport fishery, and the waters of Georgian Bay and the North Channel are popular among anglers seeking catches of walleye, northern pike and bass.  Georgian Bay is also known for its record size muskellunge.

The commercial fishery of Lake Huron produces by far the largest volume of whitefish in the Great lakes, for sale primarily in U.S. and Ontario markets. Lake trout, walleye and yellow perch contribute to the commercial fishery as well.

Compared to other Great Lakes, the Lake Huron basin has little heavy industrial and urban development. But demand for recreational homes and cottages along Lake Huron’s shores is growing. This threatens the health and diversity of the lake’s many coastal wetlands and its more than 100 tributaries (connecting rivers and streams). Outdated farming and land stewardship practices also contribute to the pressures on Lake Huron, and habitat loss due to unusually low water levels as well as changes in lake productivity because of aquatic invading species are issues of concern.