Lake Monona
Lake in Dane County, Wisconsin
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Description
Lake Monona rests at 43°4′9″N 89°21′34″W / 43.06917°N 89.35944°W. It measures 3,274 acres (13.25 km2), has a mean depth of 27 ft (8.2 m) and a maximum depth of 74 ft (23 m). Its volume is approximately 28 billion US gal (110 million m3) and it has 13 miles (21 km) of shoreline, about 40% of which is publicly owned. The elevation of the lake is 845', regulated by locks at the mouth of the Yahara River at Lake Mendota. Monona is fed by three tributaries: the Yahara River (from Lake Mendota), Starkweather Creek, and Wingra Creek. Lake Monona is typically frozen for 107 days a year, give or take 10 days depending on the season. Access to the lake is by boat ramp.
Monona is home to many species of fish, including many panfish, and is a popular lake for fishing. Sport fish species include bluegill, lake sturgeon, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, muskellunge (muskie), northern pike, and walleye.
Twenty-six-year-old soul singer Otis Redding died when his plane crashed in Lake Monona on December 10, 1967, during a storm en route to a concert in Madison. The pilot, who was Redding's manager, and four out of the five members of the Bar-Kays (then Otis's backup band) who were on the plane, also died, with the sole survivor being trumpeter Ben Cauley.