Lake Winnebago

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Lake Winnebago
From space (July 1996). The string of clouds in the upper left of the image runs almost perfectly north-south, with north being at the bottom of the image.
Location	Wisconsin
Primary sources	Wolf River, Fox River
Primary outflows	Fox River
Surface area	137,700 acres (557 km²)
Average depth	15.5 ft (4.7 m)
Max depth	21 ft (6.4 m)
Settlements	Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Neenah and Menasha

Location in Wisconsin

Sunset over Lake Winnebago, taken from near the top of the Niagara Escarpment near the East shore

Fishing near the shore of Lake Winnebago, taken from the Stockbridge Harbor

Lake Winnebago is a large freshwater lake in eastern Wisconsin.

1 Statistics
2 History
3 Locks and dams
4 Recreation
5 References
6 External links

It is about 30 by 10 miles (50 by 16 km), and has a surface area of about 137,700 acres (557 km²), making it the largest lake completely within Wisconsin. It has an average depth of 15.5 feet (4.7 m) and a maximum depth of 21 feet (6.4 m).

Lake Winnebago has two primary tributaries, the Wolf River and the Fox River. It is drained by the Fox River which flows north towards the Bay of Green Bay. Lake Winnebago is part of a larger system of lakes in Wisconsin known as the Winnebago Pool.

Cities on its shores include Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Neenah and Menasha. Cities that draw their drinking water directly from Lake Winnebago include Oshkosh, Neenah, Menasha and Appleton.

The lake is a remnant of Glacial Lake Oshkosh approximately 12,000 years ago. ^[1] Ice blocked water from entering Lake Michigan at Green Bay, and the glacial lake ponded against ice since it had no outlet.

The Niagara Escarpment is a few miles east of Lake Winnebago. The softer Ordovician rocks that under lie the lake have eroded away, and the stronger Silurian rocks stand as a ridge that formed the lake basin. ^[2]

Lake Winnebago is not man-made, but its level was raised by two dams erected in 1850. The lake level is today regulated by the US Army Corps of Engineers.

There is a system of seventeen locks that connect Lake Winnebago to Lake Michigan. This lock system is located along the lower Fox River and starts at the North West corner of Lake Winnebago in the city of Menasha and ends at the mouth of the bay of Green Bay.

Many annual events take place on the Lake Winnebago Pool, including concerts, power boat events and pleasure boating rallies.

Along with the Upper lakes of Butte des Morts, Winneconne, Poygan, the Wolf River and the upper and lower Fox River it is a popular pleasure boating area.

Lake Winnebago has a variety of state, county and city parks. High Cliff State Park is the only state park on Lake Winnebago. The park is in the North East corner of Lake Winnebago. The park offers camping, hiking trails, beautiful views of Lake Winnebago, a marina, beach, observation tower and picnic areas. Camping is available at Calumet County Park and Columbia County Park (Fond du Lac County). Visitors can see effigy mounds which overlook the lake at High Cliff and Calumet County Park.

It is a popular sport fishing lake; many fisherman consider it one of the nation's top walleye fisheries. The lake had the United States' largest population of sturgeon in 2003, ^[3] which are speared during a February season. Other species present include Bluegill, Largemouth bass, Muskellunge, Northern Pike, Perch, Burbot, White bass, Freshwater drum, and Smallmouth bass.

The first season of regulated sturgeon spearing was in 1903, when an 8 pound limit was introduced. ^[3] All sturgeon spearing was banned from 1915 until 1931. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regulates the number of fish taken each year.