Lake Wingra Muskies

Was in Madison today to see my daughters. We drove down by the dam that seperates Lake Wingra from Monona. Since they put a new dam in last year, with no fish ramp, the muskies can no longer get from Monona to Wingra to spawn. We saw several muskies in the 20 lbs.+ size and numerous smaller ones. Just incredible to see these large fish only a few feet away. Also there were literally 1000’s of small crappie or gills that didn’t seem to mind the muskies at all.

2 bad to see those fish trapped with their natural migration path blocked by man made structures. hope the fish know where to go next… lol

They have done studies in the past and determined that there is little to no natural reproduction of musky that head up into Wingra in the spring. I believe the musky population in the madison lakes is all stocked. I’m not a musky guy though so could be wrong. That’s just what I’ve been told.

Couple years back on Waubesa, I watched about 15 pairs of giant 40-55 inch muskies spawning their tales off. They do stock Monona, Wingra, and Waubesa occaissionally but there is natural reproduction as well including this one that hit my crappie road runner last year. It had spawning wounds all over it.

Yes, they spawn. Do they get any recruitment out of it? No.

Quote:

---

Yes, they spawn. Do they get any recruitment out of it? No.

---

I agree entirely with John.
From the Madison Lakes Fish Management pamphlet
“All musky in the Madison chain are stocked
as 9-12 inch fingerlings, no natural reproduction
has been observed.”

Fish Biology

The fish biologist I spoke to also confirms this. I stand corrected.