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 southern
Småland
Småland () is a historical Provinces of Sweden, province () in southern Sweden.
Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name ''Småland'' literally means "small la ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, roughly 150 km2 in size. The river Mörrumsån flows south from Åsnen into the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
. The lake lies south of
Alvesta
Alvesta () is a locality and the seat of Alvesta Municipality in Kronoberg County, Sweden, with 8,017 inhabitants in the urban area in 2010.
Alvesta is an important railway junction, joining the Stockholm–Malmö–Copenhagen railway wi ...
and
Växjö
Växjö () is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 71,282 inhabitants (2020) out of a Municipalities of Sweden, municipal population of 97,349 (2024). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial ce ...
and northwest of Tingsryd and is the third-largest lake in Småland, after Vättern and
Bolmen
Bolmen () is a lake in Småland, Sweden. Covering 184 km2, and with a maximum depth of 37 m, it supplies a considerable part of Skåne with fresh water by means of an 82-km long tunnel, the Bolmen Water Tunnel, built during the 1970s and 8 ...
. Approximately 19 km2 of the lake's area is occupied by small islands. Åsnen has many small bays and islands, the largest of which is Sirkön. The lake has been designated as a
Ramsar site
A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O)
*** Permanent 8 ha (P)
*** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts)
**
The lake is home to Ã…snen National Park, established in 2018.
Fruit (mainly apples and strawberries) is grown in the southern parts of the surrounding area, including on Sirkön.
Activities
Ã…snen is well known for its richness in native fish, and is a popular attraction for anglers. The most common types of fish are
pikeperch
''Sander'' (formerly known as ''Stizostedion'') is a genus of predatory ray-finned fish in the family Percidae, which also includes the perches, ruffes, and darters. They are also known as "pike-perch" because of their resemblance to fish in ...
,
pickerel Pickerel may refer to:
Animals
* ''Esox'', a genus of fish commonly known as the pickerels
** American pickerel
** Chain pickerel
** Redfin pickerel
* Pickerel frog
* Walleye, a fish unrelated to ''Esox'', is called Pickerel in parts of Canada
Pl ...
,
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'') ...
, and
eels
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order (biology), order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 Family (biology), families, 164 genus, genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the earl ...
.
The lake is also a popular destination for boating and canoeing, with camping areas along the lake shore.