Chemong Lake, or Lake Chemong, (pronounced "shi-MONG, from the Anisnaabemowin gchi-maang, meaning "big lake")" is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

northwest of

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

, Canada, near the town of Bridgenorth. The lake extends from near Fowlers Corners north to near Curve Lake. Lake Chemong has a length of and a width of . Chemong is also a part of the

Kawartha lakes The City of Kawartha Lakes (2021 population 79,247) is a unitary municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. It is a municipality legally structured as a single-tier city; however, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typical Ontario county and is most ...

water system and the Trent-Severn Waterway.

Geography

Communities

Communities along and near the lakeshore include Bridgenorth, Selwyn on the east, and

Ennismore ''Ennismore'' is the second solo studio album by the English singer Colin Blunstone of rock band the Zombies. The name of the album comes from Ennismore Gardens, a square in Knightsbridge where Blunstone was living; the name being a variant spe ...

on the west. There is a

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tr ...

which crosses the lake, connecting Bridgenorth and

by road. This causeway is called the James A. Gifford Causeway.

Tri-lake water system

Chemong Lake is part of a tri-lake water system consisting of Chemong Lake, Buckhorn Lake, and Pigeon Lake. The tri-lake area is host to several popular fishing tournaments throughout the open fishing season. The most common game fish in the lake are smallmouth bass,

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, ...

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Sam ...

Carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

Muskellunge The muskellunge ''(Esox masquinongy)'', often shortened to muskie, musky or lunge is a species of large freshwater predatory fish native to North America. It is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae. Origin of name The name "muskell ...

as well as a number of

Panfish The word panfish, also spelled pan-fish or pan fish, is an American English term describing any edible freshwater fish that usually do not outgrow the size of an average frying pan. It is also commonly used by recreational anglers to refer to a ...

. Commercial and recreational

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

has caused the introduction of

Zebra mussel The zebra mussel (''Dreissena polymorpha'') is a small freshwater mussel. The species originates from the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, but has been accidentally introduced to numerous other areas and has become an invasive species in ma ...

s, which change the ecosystem by filtering the water and making it clearer. Some fish, such as Walleye, dislike the clear water and have become less abundant.

Lake islands

There are a number of small islands on the lake, including Big Island, Goat Island and Kelly Island. Most of the islands have

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

s or are commonly used as impromptu

campsite A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using te ...

s. Rocky shoals surround these islands - boaters should approach with care.

Name history

The earliest map, from 1790, called the lake "Wubscommoug", which was also spelled "Wabuskummug", an Ojibwa word meaning "place of clay earth" or mud. Over the next century the name went through many changes and spelling variations, such as Shebaugh-tick-wyong/Shebaugh-tick-wayong East Lake (1816), Cimung/Cheemaun/Chemong/Shemong, and Cicibatigweyong. In the 19th century, Mud Lake was the official name, referring to the clay mud bottom of the lake. By 1902, the name Chemung Lake became the common name, and on October 14, 1965, this became the official name. Despite the official designation, it was often spelled with an "o" instead of an "u". But in 1978, Chemung Lake was officially changed to Chemong Lake by the Ontario Geographic Names Board. The lake was called Chemong, which is an Ojibwa word meaning "canoe", because when Europeans first approached the aboriginal village by canoe, the locals would shout "Chemong, Chemong".

References

{{Commons category Chemong, Lake