Paugus Bay is a 1,227-acre (4.97 km²) water body located in Belknap County in the Lakes Region of central New Hampshire, United States, in the city of Laconia. It is connected by a short channel at the village of Weirs Beach to Lake Winnipesaukee. The bay is named after Chief Paugus, who fought in the Battle of Pequawket during Dummer's War. With the 19th-century construction of a dam in the community of Lakeport (within Laconia), the elevation of Paugus Bay was raised to that of Lake Winnipesaukee, effectively making the smaller water body an arm of the larger one.