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Home › Waters › Wisconsin › Lake Waubesa
Lake · The Yahara chain south of Madison in Dane County, between Lake Monona and Lake Kegonsa on the Yahara River · Wisconsin

Lake Waubesa Fishing Guides

A shallow, fertile Yahara chain lake south of Madison with strong walleye, panfish and musky fishing and easy year-round guided access.

A dense forest shoreline reflected in dead-calm lake water
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Lake Waubesa

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About the Lake Waubesa

Lake Waubesa is the third lake in the Yahara chain below Madison, sitting between Monona and Kegonsa with the Yahara River running through it. At around two thousand acres it is smaller and shallower than Mendota, which makes it warm faster in spring and turn over sooner in fall, and its fertile green water grows fish quickly. The city is close enough that a guided half day here is a genuinely easy proposition, and the lake is fished hard in every season including through the ice.

Walleye are the main draw and the chain has a strong population, with fish holding on the weed edges and the deeper breaks and moving up onto the flats to feed at low light. Largemouth bass are abundant in the heavy cabbage and coontail, smallmouth work the harder bottom near the river mouths, and northern pike are everywhere. Waubesa also holds musky, part of the southern Wisconsin fishery that surprises visitors who associate the species only with the Northwoods. The panfishing is the quiet strength: bluegill, black crappie and yellow perch all in good numbers, and the crappie fishing through first ice is a local institution.

The gauge at McFarland publishes lake elevation and gage height rather than water temperature. On the Yahara chain the level is actively managed by dam operation and it matters for launching and for weed development, so it is worth a look before a trip. The more important seasonal variables here are water clarity, which swings with algae blooms in high summer, and ice conditions in winter, neither of which this gauge reports – check local sources for both. Consumption advisories apply on parts of the Yahara chain, and the Wisconsin advisory tables are worth reading before keeping fish from these lakes.

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The photo at the top of this page is not Lake Waubesa.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Pool right now

844.54ft NAVD88
  • 24 hours-0.02 ft → steady

Reading taken 1h ago at USGS 05429485, LAKE WAUBESA AT MC FARLAND, WI. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

Fished this water? Add a photo

Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Lake Waubesa.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

McFarland Village boat launch - the main public ramp closest to the gauge.
Babcock County Park in McFarland - ramp, pier and shoreline access.
Goodland County Park on the west shore - paved ramp and picnic area.
Lake Farm County Park - launch and access to the northern end.
Waubesa Wetlands access - paddle and walk-in shoreline on the south end.
Yahara River access at Dyreson Road - connecting-water access to Kegonsa.
Fish Camp County Park on Monona - upstream chain access via the Yahara.

Seasons

Spring: fast warming and the best walleye and crappie fishing of the year on the shallow flats.
Summer: heavy weed growth and algae, with early and late walleye windows and steady bass and pike action.
Fall: cooling water, thinning weeds and the strongest musky and big-walleye period.
Winter: a heavily fished ice season, with first-ice crappie and perch the local highlight.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Lake Waubesa?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, Muskellunge, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Yellow Perch on the Lake Waubesa in Wisconsin.

Where can you access the Lake Waubesa?

McFarland Village boat launch - the main public ramp closest to the gauge. Babcock County Park in McFarland - ramp, pier and shoreline access. Goodland County Park on the west shore - paved ramp and picnic area. Lake Farm County Park - launch and access to the northern end. Waubesa Wetlands access - paddle and walk-in shoreline on the south end. Yahara River access at Dyreson Road - connecting-water access to Kegonsa. Fish Camp County Park on Monona - upstream chain access via the Yahara.

When is the best time to fish the Lake Waubesa?

Spring: fast warming and the best walleye and crappie fishing of the year on the shallow flats. Summer: heavy weed growth and algae, with early and late walleye windows and steady bass and pike action. Fall: cooling water, thinning weeds and the strongest musky and big-walleye period. Winter: a heavily fished ice season, with first-ice crappie and perch the local highlight.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Lake Waubesa?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Wisconsin agency site: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/fishing/regulations