SHAWANO Lake fishing field guide

Shawano County, Wis. WBIC 322800 19 species

Watercolor of an angler casting from a small boat under a dark wooded shoreline, painted by Winslow Homer in 1889.

Fishing

The water

Before you go

Shawano County, Wisconsin · WBIC 322800

A shallow weed lake
with one deep hole
and 19 species in it.

Shawano Lake is a big, shallow, weedy, stained drainage lake north of Green Bay. The walleye in it are scarce and large, the panfish are plentiful and slow-growing, and the pumpkinseed population rates highest in Wisconsin. This guide puts the 2023 DNR survey, the state records, the launches and the named spots on one page each.

When to fish and what to throw All 19 fish The spot map How to get on the water

The lake by the numbers

Surface area
6,215 acres
Maximum depth
39.5 ft
Average depth
9 ft
Water over 20 ft
6.16% of the lake
Water under 3 ft
11.3% of the lake
Volume
54,270 acre-feet
Shoreline
18.3 miles
Bottom
88% sand, 12% muck
Alkalinity
86 ppm (hard water)
Public landings
6 trailer ramps and 2 carry-ins on the lake itself
Outlet
Wolf River, at the Shawano dam
Ice-out
Mid-April in a normal year

Read the shape of it. Only 6.16% of this lake is deeper than 20 feet and 11.3% is shallower than 3 feet. That is a weed lake with one hole in it. Fish the vegetation, the edges of the vegetation, and the current in the outlet and the Loon Lake channel. Deep-water tactics have almost nowhere to work.

When to fish, what to throw

Muskellunge peak from mid-September to the end of October, on glide baits, jerkbaits and live suckers. Walleye go nocturnal from late June through August, so fishing the weed edge after dark beats any lure choice you can make in daylight.

FishBest windowWhat to throwWhere
Muskellunge September 15 to the end of October Bucktails in summer, glide baits and live suckers in October The deep weed edge, the Loon Lake channel, the west basin
Walleye The first three weeks of May, and every night from late June to the end of August. Stickbaits trolled after dark, a jig and a minnow in May The outlet and the Loon Lake channel, then the deep weed edges
Northern pike The two weeks after ice-out, and first ice. Red-and-white spoons and tandem spinnerbaits The reeds after ice-out, then the deep weed edges all season
Largemouth bass June, and again in September. A Texas rig in the pads, a frog at dawn, a jig under docks Cecil Bay, the pads and reeds, the Shawano Outlet for size
Black crappie Late May, and January through February. A 1/16 oz jig under a slip float, set to the suspension depth Suspended by submerged weeds, then the west basin hole on ice
Bluegill Late May and June, on the beds. A 1/32 oz jig or a worm on a plain hook The north shore flats off the county park, on the beds
Pumpkinseed June, on the beds. A 1/32 oz jig with a small plastic, or a piece of crawler Weedy shallows on the north shore and through Cecil Bay
Yellow perch April and May on the spawn, and January through February. A jig and a minnow on the bottom, a tungsten jig on ice The Shawano Outlet for size, flooded timber in winter

The full month-by-month calendar for all eight fish

Seasons and limits come from the Wisconsin DNR regulation page for WBIC 322800, for the 2026-27 license year. The lures, depths and water temperatures are angling practice for this lake, not DNR findings. Rules change every license year, and the DNR page is the authority.

The eight surveyed fish

Numbers below are Wisconsin DNR spring survey results for 2023. Tap any card for the full page.

Illustration of a walleye.

Walleye

Sander vitreus

Common. Stocked.

 Illustration of a muskellunge.

Muskellunge

Esox masquinongy

Present. Stocked. Low density, high quality.

 Illustration of a northern pike.

Northern pike

Esox lucius

Abundant.

 Illustration of a largemouth bass.

Largemouth bass

Micropterus salmoides

Common.

 Illustration of a black crappie.

Black crappie

Pomoxis nigromaculatus

Common, and the healthiest panfish population in the system.

 Illustration of a bluegill.

Bluegill

Lepomis macrochirus

Abundant.

 Illustration of a pumpkinseed.

Pumpkinseed

Lepomis gibbosus

Abundant and improving. The best-rated panfish in the lake.

 Illustration of a yellow perch.

Yellow perch

Perca flavescens

Common, stable, with better size than most Wisconsin lakes.

What the 2023 survey actually found

The good news

  • Pumpkinseed are the best in the state. 85.3 fish per mile of electrofishing puts the lake in the 96th percentile, and fish over 7 inches hit the 98th percentile. The zebra mussel invasion fed them.
  • Walleye size is superb. A PSD of 97 ranks in the 87th percentile. Almost every stock-size walleye in the lake is already quality size, and the survey netted fish to 27.4 inches.
  • Walleye density is climbing. 0.8 adults per acre in 2023, against 0.6 in 2018 and 0.2 in 2014.
  • Crappie are healthy. 12.1 per net night is the 77th percentile, and a strong 6 to 8 inch year class is coming up behind the keepers.
  • Yellow perch run big. Netting size structure is in the 88th percentile, and the Outlet Channel produced a 12.6-inch fish.

The problems

  • Walleye numbers are still below goal. 0.8 per acre against a management target of 1.5, and the fall 2023 survey found no young-of-the-year at all.
  • Musky are thin. 0.2 fish per net night, 32nd percentile, and a size structure in the 17th percentile. No stocking happened from 2013 to 2017 and the gap still shows.
  • Bluegill grow slowly. A 7-inch male is 7.4 years old, which is the 12th percentile statewide. The DNR points at harvest of the big ones.
  • Largemouth are sliding. Abundance fell from 40.7 fish per mile in 2006 to 14.5 in 2023, and size structure from a PSD of 88 to 49.
  • Eight invasive species are established, including zebra mussel, Eurasian water-milfoil and rusty crayfish.

Two-thirds of the walleye come from a trailer

The DNR ran an oxytetracycline mark evaluation and found that 66% of the adult walleye in Shawano Lake in 2023 hatched in a lakeside hatchery run by Walleyes for Tomorrow volunteers out of Cecil. The other 34% came from state hatchery stockings. Every young-of-the-year walleye sampled in 2016 traced back to that volunteer operation.

Anglers call it the walleye wagon. If you catch a legal walleye out of this lake, the odds are two in three that a volunteer in Cecil hatched it.

One system, five waters

The DNR surveys Shawano Lake together with four connected waters, and the fish move between them. Where a number below differs between waters, the difference is worth acting on.

WaterWBICWhy it matters
Shawano Lake 322800 The main basin. 6,215 acres, 39.5 ft at the deepest hole.
Loon Lake 322600 North of the main lake. Highest crappie and bluegill netting numbers in the system.
Washington Lake 322500 Small, weedy, high crappie density, but the smallest average panfish.
Shawano Outlet 323700 The channel to the Wolf River. Best bass size structure in the system and the biggest yellow perch.
Wolf River Pond 323800 Below the outlet. Fastest-growing bluegill and the biggest crappie in the survey.

Clean, drain, dry

Eight aquatic invasive species are already established here. Wisconsin law requires you to remove all plants and animals from your boat and trailer, drain every container of water, and never move live fish away from a landing.

  • Zebra mussel
  • Eurasian water-milfoil
  • Hybrid Eurasian/Northern water-milfoil
  • Curly-leaf pondweed
  • Rusty crayfish
  • Banded mystery snail
  • Chinese mystery snail
  • Faucet snail