The 2026 paddling season got off to a late start (I think I got on the Sturgeon April 30). In early May, we headed out to Johnny's Lake for a shake down cruise. Johnny's Lake (orange arrow) is located just north of Star Lake (blue arrow) and best accessed by travelling north from Star Lake on Range Road 25, crossing the train tracks, and then turning west into the small subdivision.
Once you turn into the subdivision (blue arrow below), you can follow the loop around the boat launch road (orange arrow). This road is not signed and is a gravel two track through some closely-set trees. Eventually it opens out to the boat launch (green arrow) where you can park in the turn about.
The launch is just a small cut in the bank and requires you to step down about two feet after walking down a gentle slope. It can be mucky and, later in the summer, the water can be pretty green. This year, the launch was pretty easy and the water was clean in early May. The launch is shallow and there is a firm bottom (sand-gravel) you can stand on if you need to. We managed to get in and out dryfooted with a bit of bum scooting.
This is the launch from the water, showing the elevation change as well as the parking (the carry is about 5 meters).
The attractions of Johnny's Lake are many. There are few private cabins and, thus. almost no powered boats (I have never seen one on the lake). It is also relatively unknown and hard to find so I've also never seen other paddlers here. There are, however, a tonne of birds.
On a calm day, the lake gives great reflections and there are three islands to explore (one in the southwest corner and two just slightly northwest of the launch.
On the southwest shore, there is also a creek you can paddle up (the entrance is by an old hunting blind). This has lots of birds in it and a muskeg shoreline so you may see moose.
The drawbacks of Johnny's Lake is that the water quality is not great. Best case, it has a Mountain Dew tinge and you can see the bottom. As the summer goes on, it gets opaque and sometimes gets algae blooms. It is not really a great lake for SUP (nearby Mayatan and Star are better). The entry is also slightly more challenging than a beach launch (this varies by year and water level). I'd say it is usually a 2 out of 5 in terms of difficulty.
Depending on the day, you can basically see all of the usual lake birds here, including pelicans, swans, eagles, loons, cormorants, grebes, mergansers, and various shore and swamp birds. There are also beavers and muskrats.
If you want to make it a two-fer, Star, Mink, Hasse, and Mayatan lakes are all very close by.
