Artist Lake is a glacial

kettle hole A kettle (also known as a kettle lake, kettle hole, or pothole) is a depression/hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating gla ...

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 ...

located in

Middle Island, New York Middle Island is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 10,483 at the 2010 census. It is situated between the hamlets of Coram and Ridge, to the west and e ...

south of Middle Country Road ( Route 25) in central Long Island. Artist Lake holds a diverse warm water fish community including largemouth bass and pickerel. It is also one of Long Island's better waters for crappie and perch. Species present (naturally reproducing): *

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, bu ...

Chain pickerel The chain pickerel (''Esox niger'') is a species of freshwater fish in the pike family (family Esocidae) of order Esociformes. The chain pickerel and the American pickerel (''E. americanus'') belong to the ''Esox'' genus of pike. Taxonomy Fren ...

* Bluegill *

Pumpkinseed The pumpkinseed (''Lepomis gibbosus''), also referred to as pond perch, common sunfish, punkie, sunfish, sunny, and kivver, is a small/medium-sized North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Lepomis'' (true sunfishes), from family Centrarchi ...

* Black crappie *

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 ...

White perch The white perch (''Morone americana'') is not a true perch but is a fish of the temperate bass family, Moronidae, notable as a food and game fish in eastern North America. In some places it is referred to as "Silver Bass". The name "White per ...

Brown bullhead The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (''Am ...

Access is via Town of Brookhaven's park located directly off of Middle Country Road. Directions: Take Route 25 to Middle Island; lake is on the south side of the road opposite of what used to be Kmart. Restrictions: Hand launched boats are allowed; shoreline access is available but limited. Artist Lake has an irregular shape that was formed by the melting of massive chunks of partially buried glacial ice. A lake formed this way is called a kettlehole. Artist Lake has no inlet or outlet streams. Therefore, the water level is determined by groundwater that gradually changes during periods of dry or wet weather. Artist Lake has three connected basins with a total surface area of . The largest and deepest basin is on the east basin which has a maximum depth of nine feet. The south and west basins are shallower, particularly the west basin which does not exceed two feet in depth. Most of the

shoreline A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

of Artist Lake is privately owned. Public access is available from Middle Country Road (Route 25). Canoes or other hand carried boats can be launched from a small Brookhaven town park on the south side of the road. Fishing from shore is also possible. There is room for five or six cars to pull off the highway. Artist Lake is located on NYS Route 25 in Middle Island just east of Suffolk County Route 21.

References

{{authority control Brookhaven, New York Lakes of New York (state) Tourist attractions on Long Island Lakes of Suffolk County, New York Tourist attractions in Suffolk County, New York

See also

References