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Home › Waters › Wisconsin › Lake Kegonsa
Lake · South central Wisconsin, Dane County, the lowest of the four Yahara River lakes below Madison · Wisconsin

Lake Kegonsa Fishing Guides

The last and shallowest of the four Yahara chain lakes below Madison, a fertile warmwater lake that fishes well for walleye and panfish and stays quieter than the city lakes upstream.

Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Lake Kegonsa

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About the Lake Kegonsa

Lake Kegonsa is the lowest of the four lakes on the Yahara River chain that runs down through Dane County, below Mendota, Monona and Waubesa. At roughly three thousand acres and relatively shallow throughout, it is a fertile, productive warmwater lake, and its position at the bottom of the chain means it receives nutrient-rich water from everything upstream, including the city of Madison.

That fertility drives the fishery. Kegonsa grows fish quickly and supports substantial populations across several species. Walleye are the fish most anglers come for, concentrating near the river inlet and outlet and along the drop edges, and they are most reliably taken low light or after dark. Northern pike hold in and around the weed edges and run to good size in a lake this rich.

Panfish are the other half of the appeal and arguably the more consistent one. Bluegill, black crappie and yellow perch are abundant, and the lake is a well established winter destination where shacks appear in numbers once the ice is safe. Largemouth bass hold through the weed beds, smallmouth bass relate to the harder bottom and rock, and white bass move in schools and can be found working bait in open water.

The shallowness that makes the lake productive also makes it changeable. Wind moves water and stirs sediment quickly, algae blooms are a regular summer feature in this chain, and conditions can differ substantially between a calm morning and a windy afternoon. Anglers who plan around wind direction do better here than those who do not.

Access is straightforward. Lake Kegonsa State Park sits on the shore with a boat landing and public frontage, and additional landings serve the lake around its edge. Stoughton is the nearest town, Madison is a short drive, and the rest of the Yahara chain is close enough that a trip can easily cover more than one lake.

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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

843.18ft NAVD88
  • 24 hours-0.01 ft → steady

Reading taken 1h ago at USGS 425715089164700, LAKE KEGONSA AT BARBER DRIVE NEAR STOUGHTON, WI. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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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 Kegonsa.

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

Lake Kegonsa State Park - the state park on the shore, with a boat landing and frontage.
Barber Drive - the shoreline road at the gauge and a local reference point.
Stoughton - the nearest town, with services and tackle.
Yahara River - the river connecting this lake to the rest of the chain.
Lake Waubesa - the next lake upstream on the same chain.
Madison - the city a short drive north, with full services.
Wisconsin DNR boat landing listings - the authority on public landings around the lake.

Seasons

Spring: warming shallows, strong walleye movement near the inlet and outlet, and good panfish action.
Summer: weed edges and wind-driven structure hold fish, with algae blooms common in the chain.
Fall: cooling water concentrates walleye and pike and produces the best big fish odds.
Winter: a well established ice fishery, especially for panfish and walleye once ice is safe.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Lake Kegonsa?

Anglers target Black Crappie, Bluegill, Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, White Bass, Yellow Perch on the Lake Kegonsa in Wisconsin.

Where can you access the Lake Kegonsa?

Lake Kegonsa State Park - the state park on the shore, with a boat landing and frontage. Barber Drive - the shoreline road at the gauge and a local reference point. Stoughton - the nearest town, with services and tackle. Yahara River - the river connecting this lake to the rest of the chain. Lake Waubesa - the next lake upstream on the same chain. Madison - the city a short drive north, with full services. Wisconsin DNR boat landing listings - the authority on public landings around the lake.

When is the best time to fish the Lake Kegonsa?

Spring: warming shallows, strong walleye movement near the inlet and outlet, and good panfish action. Summer: weed edges and wind-driven structure hold fish, with algae blooms common in the chain. Fall: cooling water concentrates walleye and pike and produces the best big fish odds. Winter: a well established ice fishery, especially for panfish and walleye once ice is safe.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Lake Kegonsa?

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