Ballston Lake is located in the hamlet of Ballston Lake, New York in the town of Ballston. This narrow -long

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 ...

with an unknown maximum depth in the south of the region, was called ''Shanantaha'' or ''Sha-nen-da-ho-ra'' by

natives There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. It was known to early white settlers as Long Lake. The lake was part of the Mohawk River during the glacial age and archeological digs have unearthed artifacts indicating settlement around the lake as early as 3,500 BCE. For a long time the depth of Ballston Lake was not determined, due to the multiple caves that prevented divers from going to the bottom. There has been an artifact found that is dated 2000 B.C. Fish species present in the lake include

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...

smallmouth bass The smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') is a species of freshwater fish in the Centrarchidae, sunfish family (biology), family (Centrarchidae) of the order (biology), order Centrarchiformes. It is the type species of its genus ''Micropterus ...

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill fr ...

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

pumpkinseed sunfish The pumpkinseed (''Lepomis gibbosus''), also referred to as sun perch, pond perch, common sunfish, punkie, sunfish, sunny, and kivver, is a small to medium–sized freshwater fish of the genus ''Lepomis'' (true sunfishes), from the sunfish fami ...

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or, in Texas, "copper nose", is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands ea ...

black crappie The black crappie (''Pomoxis nigromaculatus'') is a freshwater fish in the sunfish family ( Centrarchidae). It is endemic to North America, one of the two types of crappies. It is very similar to the white crappie (''P. annularis'') in size, s ...

redfin pickerel The redfin pickerel (''Esox americanus americanus'') is a subspecies of freshwater fish belonging to the pike family (Esocidae) of the order Esociformes. Not to be confused with its close relatives, the grass pickerel and the chain pickerel, thi ...

and

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 (' ...

. The lake is

meromictic A meromictic lake is a lake which has layers of water that do not intermix. In ordinary, holomictic lakes, at least once each year, there is a physical mixing of the surface and the deep waters. The term ''meromictic'' was coined by the Austria ...

, meaning its deeper waters never mix with the surface layer. In 2021 both the cartop boat launch on Outlet Road and the private one located at Finnigan's On The Lake Restaurant were closed, leaving no public boating access to the lake. In February 2022, the public fishing pier on the north end of the lake was closed due to damage sustained by ice over the winter.

References

{{authority control Lakes of New York (state) Lakes of Saratoga County, New York

See also

References