According to Hoofer legend, a large, prehistoric fish has prowled the depths of Lake Mendota for many years. Some say the fish—possibly a pirarucu or a very large sturgeon or alligator gar—was released by a Madison resident when it became too big for its tank, eventually growing to more than ten feet in size.
As the story goes, while swimming off a boat one day, the club's first commodore was attacked below the waist by the carnivorous fish and lost all function in those parts. Today, like 15th Century Oriental captains, every new commodore must undergo mock castration as part of his installation ceremony. Later, during Commodore's Cup, he is carted around in a rickshaw for all to see.
No one knows for sure if the huge fish still exists, but evidence occasionally surfaces in the form of a half-eaten deer or pig. Several swimmers and canoers have also vanished into the lake in recent years, their disappearances still unsolved. Believe it or not.
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