Smallfish Lake is a lake in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. It is located in the east-central part of the province right alongside the border with

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

in the

Porcupine Hills The Porcupine Hills refer to various groups of hills and uplands located in the prairie provinces of Canada, specifically the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They are part of the Manitoba Escarpment, which was the shoreline of the anc ...

and

Porcupine Provincial Forest The Porcupine Provincial Forest is a protected boreal forest in Canada which covers the Porcupine Hills on the border of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. __TOC__ History By the end of the 19th century, Eastern Canada had essentially run out of marke ...

. The lake is part of the Woody River Block of Porcupine Hills Provincial Park and is situated in

boreal forest Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by pinophyta, coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. I ...

surrounded by hills, other small lakes, and

muskeg Muskeg (; ; , lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal ecosystem, boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bogland, bog or peatland, and is a standard te ...

. Access to the lake is on the western side from Highway 980.

Description

Smallfish Lake is in the

Woody River Woody River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The river's source is in the Porcupine Hills and Porcupine Provincial Forest of eastern Saskatchewan. From there it flows south through boreal forest and then east ...

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

which flows into Manitoba's

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

. Several streams and rivers flow into Smallfish Lake from the surrounding hills and other lakes, including Spring Lake, Pickerel Lake, and Grassy Lake. The lake's outlet, Smallfish Creek, is located at the north-east corner of the lake and it flows east into Manitoba where it meets up with Little Fish Creek. Little Fish Creek is a tributary of Whitefish Lake. Whitefish Creek flows out of Whitefish Lake back into Saskatchewan where it meets up with Woody River. On the western shore of the lake, there is a small campground that is part of Porcupine Hills Provincial Park. There are no

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place (geography), place, set of Norm (social), norms, culture, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Ide ...

nor other amenities on the lake.

Parks and recreation

Prior to the formation of Porcupine Hills Provincial Park in 2018, the park on Smallfish Lake was part of a provincial recreation site called Woody River Recreation Site. On the lake's western shore there's a small campground with six campsites, a boat launch, fish cleaning station, and a picnic area.

Fish species

Fish commonly found in the lake include

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

perch Perch is a common name for freshwater fish from the genus ''Perca'', which belongs to the family Percidae of the large order Perciformes. The name comes from , meaning the type species of this genus, the European perch (''P. fluviatilis'') ...

, and

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...

. Smallfish Lake is a shallow lake at about 12 feet deep and is prone to freeze nearly to the bottom on occasions. In 2004,

winter kill ''Winter Kill'' is a 1974 American made-for-television mystery-thriller film directed by Jud Taylor and written by John Michael Hayes and David Karp. It stars Andy Griffith as Sam McNeill, the police chief in a small resort town in the mount ...

killed the perch population and the lake had to be restocked.

References

{{Authority control Lakes of Saskatchewan Hudson Bay No. 394, Saskatchewan

Description

Parks and recreation

Fish species

See also

References