The Suncook Lakes are a pair of lakes located in
Belknap County in central
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, United States, in the town of
Barnstead. Upper Suncook Lake encompasses , while Lower Suncook Lake covers . The lakes are connected by a channel, spanned by a road bridge. A dam at the outlet of Lower Suncook Lake controls the water level of both lakes. The lakes are located along the
Suncook River
The Suncook River is a river located in central New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Merrimack River, which flows to the Gulf of Maine.
Course
The Suncook River begins at the outlet of Crystal Lake in the town of Gilmanto ...
, a tributary of the
Merrimack River
The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Mas ...
. There are three islands on Lower Lake.
Lower Suncook Lake has an average depth of and a maximum depth of ,
[ while Upper Suncook Lake has a greater average depth and a maximum depth greater than .][ The lakes are classified as a warmwater fishery, with observed species including smallmouth and ]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, but ...
, 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
French ...
, horned pout
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 ...
, and 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 perc ...
.Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...
can be found in the deeper Upper Suncook Lake.
See also
*List of lakes in New Hampshire
This is a list of lakes and ponds in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services lists 944 lakes and impoundments in their ''Official List of Public Waters''. The water bodies that are listed include natu ...
References
Lakes of Belknap County, New Hampshire
Barnstead, New Hampshire
New Hampshire placenames of Native American origin
{{NewHampshire-geo-stub