Smiths Lake, an intermittently closed youthful saline coastal lagoon,[1] is located within the Mid-Coast Council local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia.

Smiths Lake is located adjacent to the village of Smiths Lake, and adjacent to the east coast, about 274 kilometres (170 mi) north of Sydney.

Drawing its catchment from within Wallingat National Park, Wallingat State Forest and the Wamwarra and Tarbuck creeks,[4] Smiths Lake has a relatively small catchment area of 28 square kilometres (11 sq mi) and a surface area of 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi).

Due to the nature of Smiths Lake being a coastal dune lake, or coastal lagoon, it was featured in an American documentary about conservation done by producer Elam Stoltzfus.

Because of this, the western third of Smiths Lake is classed as a Sanctuary Zone and the northeastern area, known as Symes Bay, is classed as Habitat Protection Zone, which means commercial fishing in more than two thirds of the lake is no longer permitted.