Fish species include walleye, yellow perch, northern pike, lake trout, lake whitefish, burbot, rainbow trout, white sucker, Tullibee, splake, and small mouth bass.

In 1763, Hudson's Bay Company explorers Joseph Smith and Isaac Batt, guided by Cree leader Meesinkeeshick,[14] became the first European recorded to visit Lake Athapapuskow; Smith died on the return journey to York Factory.

[13][15] Ten years later, the Governor of Churchill sent the fur trader Joseph Hansom, also guided by Cree, inland to extend the reach of the HBC.

of Shott & Ball, 6 Gallns Brandy and some other trifling articles of Trading goods"[15] paddled up the Grass River to Cranberry Portage and into Lake Athapapuskow en route to establishing Cumberland House.

[19] The lake first appeared on a map drawn by Peter Pond in 1785 and was described as the "Middle Road to Hudson's Bay".

[20] The name of the lake was first noted In 1806, when explorer and surveyor Peter Fidler recorded the main waterways of his Cree partners in the notable "Cha Chay Pay Way Ti’s Map of the Waterways of a Part of Northern Manitoba", Cranberry Portage and Lake Athapapuskow are clearly marked on it.

[13] The town of Cranberry Portage itself was established on the southeast arm of the lake in 1922 when William Thompson built a house there.

[4] The name was officially registered in 1948[28] and is believed to be derived from "Athapa'puskow Saka'higan" meaning "rock on both sides lake" in Swampy Cree,[29] which aptly describes the stony pre-Cambrian shores.