Largest lakes & reservoirs in Canada by shoreline length
The length of the exterior shoreline around a lake is measured at the lake’s normal elevation. The shoreline length can be considerably shorter or longer when lake water levels are lower or higher than normal. A lake with many coves has a much longer shoreline than a lake of similar surface area that is nearly circular in shape.When known, the shoreline miles that we report in our statistics include only the lake’s exterior shoreline, and exclude the shorelines of islands located within a lake’s boundaries. In lakes with many islands, those islands’ combined shorelines may exceed a lake’s exterior shoreline.
You can find many of the world’s longest-shoreline lakes on LakeLubbers. Note: For some lakes, "Longest Shorelines" data is unknown or does not apply, so this table may display fewer lakes than the total 164 articles we have published for Canada lakes.
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Below are lakes within Canada > Compared by longest shoreline length in miles. This list does not represent all lakes in Canada, only the 164 Canada lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Shoreline length in miles |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Lake of the Woods, MN / Canada (Canada, Manitoba, Canada, Minnesota, Northwest Minnesota, Ontario, Canada, US Midwest Region, USA) |
25,000 mi | Spanning the border from Minnesota into the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba, Lake of the Woods is an enormous body of water over 68 miles l… |
| Lake Michigan-Huron (Canada, Chicagoland Region, IL, Great Lakes of North America, Illinois, Indiana, Lake Michigan Region, WI, Michigan, North Indiana, Northeast Michigan, Northwest Michigan, Ontario, Canada, Southwest Michigan, US Midwest Region, USA, Upper Peninsula Region, MI, West Central Michigan, Wisconsin) |
5,463 mi | Lake Michigan and Lake Huron – two of North America’s Great Lakes – are contiguous and they share the same elevation of 577 feet above sea level. They… |
| Lake Huron (Canada, East Central Michigan, Great Lakes of North America, Michigan, Northeast Michigan, Ontario, Canada, US Midwest Region, USA, Upper Peninsula Region, MI) |
3,825 mi | A glacial lake of epic proportions, Lake Huron is the second largest of the five Great Lakes by surface area, boasting 23,010 square miles and an incr… |
| Gouin Reservoir (Canada, Quebec, Canada) |
3,510 mi | Also known as Reservoir Gouin When the directions say ‘turn off the paved road’, you know you’re on your way to Gouin Reservoir. Visitors can drive to the lake, but most opt to fly… |
| Caniapiscau Reservoir, QC (Canada, Quebec, Canada) |
3,010 mi | Also known as Lake Caniapiscau “The money is not as useful as the land was before we lost it.” -Chisasibi Cree Native About 9,000 years ago, the glaciers receded on the Laurentian P… |
| Reservoir Cabonga (Canada, Quebec, Canada) |
2,800 mi | Also known as Cabonga Reservoir, Cabonga Lake A trip to Cabonga Reservoir in Quebec is the true definition of ‘getting away from it all’. The massive reservoir covers 261 square miles, but only 18… |
| Lake Superior (Canada, Great Lakes of North America, Lake Superior Northwoods Region, WI, Michigan, Minnesota, Northeast Minnesota, Ontario, Canada, US Midwest Region, USA, Upper Peninsula Region, MI, Wisconsin) |
2,726 mi | Skipping over state and country borders, Lake Superior, the largest, deepest, coldest, cleanest, least developed, and most pristine of the Great Lakes… |
| Wollaston Lake, SK (Canada, Saskatchewan, Canada) |
2,700 mi | Wilderness adventures draw people to Wollaston Lake in northeastern Saskatchewan. Sparsely populated, Wollaston Lake is home to copious amounts of wil… |
| Great Slave Lake, NT (Canada, Northwest Territories, Canada) |
1,900 mi | Great Slave Lake is the fifth-largest lake (by acreage) in North America and, following Great Bear Lake, is the second-largest in Canada. A natural la… |
| Smallwood Reservoir, NL (Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada) |
1,756 mi | Wild, diverse and always impressive, Smallwood Reservoir is not a place to be taken lightly. Smallwood Reservoir is not a place for leisurely lakeside… |
| Great Bear Lake, NT (Canada, Northwest Territories, Canada) |
1,690 mi | Great Bear Lake is located in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is a natural lake, encircled by wilderness, and the largest lake completely in C… |
| Reindeer Lake, MB (Canada, Manitoba, Canada, Saskatchewan, Canada) |
1,380 mi | Reindeer Lake is the one of the largest lakes in North America, covering about 1,500,000 acres and spanning the border of Saskatchewan and Manitoba pr… |