Storsjön (, ) is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in Gävle Municipality and

Sandviken Municipality Sandviken Municipality () is a municipality in Gävleborg County, in east central Sweden. The seat is the town of Sandviken. The present municipality was created in 1971 through the amalgamation of the City of Sandviken (itself instituted in 19 ...

Gästrikland Gästrikland () is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Uppland, Västmanland, Dalarna, Hälsingland and the Gulf of Bothnia. Gästrikland is the southernmost and the most densely populated of the No ...

and is a part of

Gavleån Gavleån or Gävle River is a watercourse in the middle Gästrikland of Sweden from Storsjön to Gävle Bay ''(Gävlebukten)'' in the Bothnian Sea The Bothnian Sea (; ) links the Bothnian Bay (also called the Bay of Bothnia) with the Baltic S ...

. Storsjön has an area of a , a greatest depth of , and is approximately

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. The lake is drained by

. Experimental fishing has proved that there are many different varieties of fish here, such as

perch Perch is a common name for freshwater fish from the genus ''Perca'', which belongs to the family Percidae of the large order Perciformes. The name comes from , meaning the type species of this genus, the European perch (''P. fluviatilis'') ...

bream Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...

sea bream Sparidae is a family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Spariformes, the seabreams and porgies, although they were traditionally classified in the order Perciformes. The over 150 species are found in shallow and deep marine waters in te ...

and

ruffe The ruffe (''Gymnocephalus cernua''), also known as the Eurasian ruffe or pope, is a freshwater fish found in temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia. It has been introduced into the Great Lakes of North America as an invasive species ...

. An old saying says that the lake has "just as many islands as there are days in a year" which should not be interpreted literally, but simply means that they are too many to count (a more accurate figure would be around 150 islands). Storsjön is mostly around in depth. Old sources claim that Storsjön previously went by the name of Odensjön. This could possibly be proven by a 17th-century map where

, that flows through

Gävle Gävle ( ; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 79,004 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the List of cities in Sweden, 13th-most-populated city in Sweden. I ...

, is called Odensjöströmmen (lit. "Stream of Odensjön"). Storsjön is connected to Gavleån, which is connected to the sea.

Fish

By experimental fishing, these fishes have been caught: *

Perch Perch is a common name for freshwater fish from the genus ''Perca'', which belongs to the family Percidae of the large order Perciformes. The name comes from , meaning the type species of this genus, the European perch (''P. fluviatilis'') ...

Bream Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...

Sea bream Sparidae is a family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Spariformes, the seabreams and porgies, although they were traditionally classified in the order Perciformes. The over 150 species are found in shallow and deep marine waters in te ...

Ruffe The ruffe (''Gymnocephalus cernua''), also known as the Eurasian ruffe or pope, is a freshwater fish found in temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia. It has been introduced into the Great Lakes of North America as an invasive species ...

* Pike *

Sander A sander is a power tool used to smooth surfaces by abrasion with sandpaper. Sanders have a means to attach the sandpaper and a mechanism to move it rapidly contained within a housing with means to handhold it or fix it to a workbench. Woodw ...

Cyprinidae Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barbs and barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family, and t ...

* Bleak * Roach *

European smelt The Smelt or European smelt (''Osmerus eperlanus'') is a species of fish in the family Osmeridae. Appearance The body of the European smelt is typically long, slender and slightly flattened on either side. Larger fish may reach in length. S ...

* Crucian carp *

Rudd ''Scardinius'' is a genus of freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related species. The fishes in this genus are commonly called rudds. Locally, the name "rudd" without ...

* Vendace *

Tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a freshwater, fresh- and brackish water, brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including Great Britain, Britain and Ireland east into Asia as far ...

* Vimba vimba

Compounds related to the lake

* Sandvikens segelsällskap SSS (lit. "Sandviken Yacht Club") * Föreningen Rädda Storsjön (lit. "Compound Save the Great Lake")

Beaches

Water samples are taken at the following beaches in Storsjön: *Hedåsbadet,

Sandviken Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 26,438 inhabitants in 2023. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...

*Strandbaden, Årsunda *Sörtuttsbadet, Sandviken

Catchment areas

Storsjön is a part of

catchment area A catchment area in human geography, is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

(671779-155196) which the

Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (, SMHI) is a Swedish government agency and operates under the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise. SMHI has expertise within the areas of meteorology, hydrology and oceanography, and has exte ...

calls ''Utloppet av Storsjön'' (lit. "The outlet of the Great Lake"). The median height is

, and the area is . If all the 367 catchment areas are counted upstream the accumulated area would be a . The catchment area ''Gavleån'' flows into the sea. The catchment area mostly contains

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

(36%). The catchment area has a of water surface, giving it a lake percentage of %. Settlements in the area contain the size of , or 7% of the catchment area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Storsjon, Gastrikland Gästrikland Lakes of Gävleborg County Gävle Municipality Sandviken Municipality