Lake Monona is a
freshwaterFreshwater is naturally occurring water on the surface such as bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground in aquifers and underground rivers. Freshwater is characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts...
drainageDrainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...
lakeA lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all. Another definition is, a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size that is surrounded by land...
in
Dane County, WisconsinDane County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Its estimated population in 2007 was 476,785. The county seat is Madison. The U.S. Census Bureau's Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Dane County...
surrounded on three sides by the city of
Madison, WisconsinMadison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
and on the south side by the city of
Monona, WisconsinMonona is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 8,046 as of 2007. It is completely surrounded by Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Monona is located at ....
. It is the second-largest of a chain of four lakes along the
Yahara RiverThe Yahara River is a tributary of the Rock River, about 45 mi long, in southern Wisconsin in the United States. Via the Rock River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River...
(also including
MendotaLake Mendota is the northernmost and largest of the four lakes near Madison, Wisconsin. The lake borders Madison on the north, east and south, Middleton on the west, Shorewood Hills on the southwest, Maple Bluff on the northeast, and Westport on the northwest....
, Kegonsa, and
WaubesaLake Waubesa is one of the four lakes in Madison, Wisconsin. The lake has a surface area of slightly over ....
) in the area and forms the south shore of the
isthmusAn isthmus is a narrow strip of land connecting two larger land areas. Of note, the Isthmus of Panama connects the continents of North and South America , and the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt connects Africa and Asia .Canals are often built on isthmuses where they may be particularly advantageous to...
that forms downtown Madison. The name 'Monona' is a Chippewa word believed to mean 'beautiful', although the lake was originally named by the
Ho-Chunk (Winnebago)The Ho-Chunk, or Winnebago , are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what are now Wisconsin and Illinois.-Etymology:...
'Tchee-ho-bo-kee-xa-te-la' or 'Teepee Lake'.
Lake Monona rests at . It measures 3,274
acreThe acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre....
s (13.2 km²), has a mean depth of 27 ft (8 m) and a maximum depth of 64 ft (20 m). Its volume is approximately 28 billion US gallons (110,000,000 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
tributariesA tributary is a stream or river which flows into a main stem river. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea. Tributaries and the mainstem river serve to drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater by leading the water out into an ocean or some other large body...
; The Yahara River (from
Lake MendotaLake Mendota is the northernmost and largest of the four lakes near Madison, Wisconsin. The lake borders Madison on the north, east and south, Middleton on the west, Shorewood Hills on the southwest, Maple Bluff on the northeast, and Westport on the northwest....
), Starkweather Creek, and Murphy 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 and is a popular lake for fishing. Sport fish species include
bluegillThe Bluegill is a species of freshwaterfish sometimes referred to as bream, brim, or copper nose. It is a member of the sunfish family of order Perciformes. It is native...
,
lake sturgeonThe lake sturgeon is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of about 20 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is an evolutionarily ancient bottomfeeder with a partly cartilaginous skeleton and skin bearing rows of bony plates...
,
largemouth bassThe largemouth bass is a species of fish in the sunfish family. It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth and northern largemouth...
,
smallmouth bassThe smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...
,
muskellungeA muskellunge , also known as a muskelunge, muscallonge, milliganong, or maskinonge , is a large, relatively uncommon freshwater fish of North America. Muskellunge are the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae...
(muskie),
northern pikeThe northern pike , Esox lucius, is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...
, and
walleyeWalleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...
.
Otis ReddingOtis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer. Often called the "King of Soul", he is renowned for an ability to convey strong emotion through his voice...
died when his plane crashed in Lake Monona on December 10, 1967 during a storm en route to a concert in Madison. Several crew members and all but two members of the
Bar-KaysThe Bar-Kays are a popular soul, R&B, and funk group who began performing in 1966 and continue to perform today, although with only one original member. The group had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including "Soul Finger" The Bar-Kays are a popular soul, R&B, and funk group...
(then Otis's backup band) on the plane also died.