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 borders 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 Gilma ...

, 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 M ...

. 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 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 ...

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

, horned pout, and

white perch The white perch (''Morone americana'') is not a true Percidae, 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 common ...

Rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

can be found in the deeper Upper Suncook Lake.

References

Lakes of Belknap County, New Hampshire Barnstead, New Hampshire New Hampshire placenames of Native American origin {{NewHampshire-geo-stub

See also

References