SHAWANO Lake fishing field guide

Shawano County, Wis. WBIC 322800 19 species

← All species

Common, and the healthiest panfish population in the system.

Black crappie

Pomoxis nigromaculatus

The DNR aged a 12-inch female at 19 years old. Crappies here live a long time and grow slowly past 10 inches, so a 12-inch fish is a genuinely old animal.

Illustration of a black crappie, Pomoxis nigromaculatus.

When to go

Best months for black crappie on Shawano Lake: January, February, and May.
Prime
January: prime.
Prime
February: prime.
March: good.
April: fair.
Prime
May: prime.
June: good.
July: fair.
August: fair.
September: good.
October: good.
November: fair.
December: good.
Spawn
Ice, most years Ice
  • Prime
  • Good
  • Fair
  • Slow
  • Season closed

When black crappie spawn here

May, when the shallows hold 55 to 68 °F

Crappie move into 2 to 6 feet in the back of Cecil Bay and the shallow bays through May. Washington Lake gives you numbers on the spawn and the smallest average fish in the system.

Why the year looks like this

The season never closes, so the calendar is about where the fish are. In May they are shallow and easy. June through August they suspend at 8 to 14 feet and you need electronics. Through the ice they stack in the one deep hole in the west basin, which is the most reliable bite on this lake all year.

Seasons come from the Wisconsin DNR regulation page for WBIC 322800, for the 2026-27 license year. The month ratings and the spawn dates are angling practice for this lake, not DNR findings. The spawn moves with the water temperature, so treat the dates as a normal year and the temperature as the trigger.

What the DNR measured

Fish measured, 2023 (main lake, fyke net)
147
Length range (main lake)
4.3 – 11.5 inches
Longest in the system
13.1 inches, in Wolf River Pond
Netting catch rate
12.1 per net night, 77th percentile statewide
Electrofishing catch rate
6.7 per mile, 53rd percentile
Fish 8 inches and over
5.3 per mile, 69th percentile
Growth
An 8-inch female is about 5.5 years old. Moderate.

What that means on the water

The DNR calls this population healthy and expects an excellent fishery for the next several years, because a strong year class of 6 to 8 inch fish is coming up behind the keepers. Growth slows hard around 10 to 11 inches, and the report names angler harvest as a likely reason fish over 12 inches are rare.

Where to find it

  • Look for them suspended at 8 to 14 feet beside submerged weeds, summer and fall.
  • Loon Lake and Washington Lake, which hold the highest crappie densities the DNR measured.
  • Work the deep basin once the ice is on. It is the only deep water they have.
  • Wolf River Pond, which produced the longest crappie in the survey at 13.1 inches.

How to catch it

  • A 1/16 oz jig and a crappie minnow under a slip float, set to the depth the fish are suspending at.
  • Hair jigs and plastics counted down to the suspension depth.
  • On ice, 4 mm tungsten jigs and 1/32 oz jigging spoons.
  • Fish the last hour of light. Crappie feed up in low light.

Month-by-month calendar for black crappie

Fish a small jig under a slip float at 8 to 14 feet next to submerged weeds in summer, and move to the west basin hole through the ice.

What to tie on

Sizes and weights, not brand names. Every picture is a real piece of tackle, and the drawn plates carry a ruler. The full gear page explains the words.

Two bare lead jig heads and a third rigged with a green curly-tail plastic body.

Lure · Start here

Panfish jig

1/32 oz round head, #8 or #10 hook. Chartreuse, black, or white.

A ball of lead moulded onto a hook. You thread a soft plastic body onto the hook, or you hang a waxworm off it, and it sinks at a steady rate you can count.

On this lake. This is the single most useful lure on Shawano Lake. Hang it 18 inches under a slip float on the north shore flats and it catches bluegill, pumpkinseed and crappie all summer. Count it down along the weed edge in 6 to 12 feet after the spawn.

  • January: yes.
  • February: yes.
  • March: yes.
  • April: yes.
  • May: yes.
  • June: yes.
  • July: yes.
  • August: yes.
  • September: yes.
  • October: yes.
  • November: yes.
  • December: yes.
Slip float rig A slip float rig from top to bottom: bobber stop, bead, sliding float, split shot, and a jig, with the fishing depth marked. THE SLIP FLOAT RIG The float slides up the line until it hits the stop, so you can fish 14 feet down and still cast it. SURFACE BOBBER STOP A knot you slide up or down to set the depth. BEAD Keeps the knot from pulling through the float. SLIP FLOAT An inch of foam. It slides on the line, it does not tie on. SPLIT SHOT One BB, about 12 inches above the jig. 1/32 OZ JIG Tipped with a pinch of crawler or one waxworm. SET IT TO THE FISH 2 to 6 ft on the spawn 8 to 14 ft through the summer Crappie in Shawano Lake suspend off the bottom. A bait under them catches nothing, so find the depth on your electronics first and set the stop to it.

Terminal tackle

Slip float

1 inch foam slip float, one bobber stop, one bead, one BB split shot.

A float with a hole through it. The line runs through the float, so the float sits at the reel while you cast and slides up to the stop knot once the bait sinks. That is how you fish 14 feet deep with an 8-foot rod.

On this lake. Crappie on this lake suspend at 8 to 14 feet next to submerged weeds from June to August, and they do not come up for a bait. Find the depth on your electronics, set the stop to it, and leave it there.

  • January: no.
  • February: no.
  • March: no.
  • April: yes.
  • May: yes.
  • June: yes.
  • July: yes.
  • August: yes.
  • September: yes.
  • October: yes.
  • November: no.
  • December: no.
A fathead minnow, the small baitfish sold for perch and walleye.

Live bait

Fathead minnow

A scoop of fatheads for perch and walleye. Ask for crappie minnows, which are the same fish a size smaller, for crappie.

A two-inch baitfish, sold live by the scoop. Hook it through both lips for trolling and drifting, or through the back behind the dorsal fin to hang it under a float.

On this lake. The perch bait for the Shawano Outlet, which grows the only perch in this system that pass a foot. Fish it on the bottom on a plain #6 hook and a split shot.

  • January: yes.
  • February: yes.
  • March: yes.
  • April: yes.
  • May: yes.
  • June: no.
  • July: no.
  • August: no.
  • September: yes.
  • October: yes.
  • November: yes.
  • December: yes.
Tungsten ice jigs Four tungsten ice jigs drawn to scale, from 2 to 5 millimetres, with a ruler. Four millimetre is the local standard. TUNGSTEN ICE JIGS, DRAWN TO SCALE Tungsten is denser than lead, so a smaller bait drops on the same line. The size is quoted in millimetres. 2 mm Finicky bluegill, late ice 3 mm Bluegill and pumpkinseed 4 mm The local standard for crappie and perch 5 mm Crappie in 25 feet, or wind 1 inch 0 50 MM

Lure

Tungsten ice jig

4 mm tungsten. Glow white, or plain black with a red hook.

A tiny weight of tungsten on a small hook. Tungsten is denser than lead, so a small bait still drops fast on light line, which is why it replaced lead heads for winter panfish.

On this lake. 4 mm is the local winter standard here for crappie and perch. Tip it with two spikes or one waxworm. Fish it 15 to 25 feet in the west basin hole for crappie, and 4 to 5 feet in the flooded timber for perch.

  • January: yes.
  • February: yes.
  • March: yes.
  • April: no.
  • May: no.
  • June: no.
  • July: no.
  • August: no.
  • September: no.
  • October: no.
  • November: no.
  • December: yes.

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.

Spots on this lake for black crappie

7 of the 10 named areas hold black crappie. Tap a marker for the reason.

SpotWhy it holds them
Cecil Bay and the east taperThe lake narrows to under a mile from north to south at its east end and shallows out. Heavy vegetation, warm water, and the Cecil launch right on it. This is the best largemouth and panfish water on the east half.
The channel to Loon LakeA quarter mile of moving water joins the north shore of Shawano Lake to the south tip of Loon Lake. Current concentrates bait, fish move through it in both directions, and the DNR PIT tag arrays went in exactly here in 2024 to measure that movement. Anglers call this stretch the Narrows.
The west basinThe widest and deepest part of the lake, running just under 3 miles north to south. Only 6.16% of Shawano Lake is deeper than 20 feet, and most of that sits here. Winter crappie hold in the basin and summer walleye slide to the edge of it.
Shawano Lake OutletThe channel that drains the lake into the Wolf River, and the best-scoring water in the whole system. Largemouth size structure of 73 against 49 in the main lake, and the longest yellow perch the DNR measured at 12.6 inches. Spring runs of walleye, pike and musky pass through it.
Wolf River PondThe slack water above the Shawano dam. It produced the longest crappie in the 2023 survey at 13.1 inches, and its bluegill reach 7 inches roughly two and a half years faster than the fish in the main lake.
Loon LakeThe connected basin to the north. The DNR netted 459 black crappie here, more than any other water in the system, though the average fish runs small and growth is the slowest of the five waters.
Washington LakeSmall, weedy and connected, northeast of the main lake. Crappie density hits the 84th percentile statewide and perch the 88th, but the panfish size structure is the weakest of the five waters. Treat it as a numbers stop.

All 10 spots and the season-by-season pattern

Records and rules

Season on Shawano Lake
Open all year. Ice fishing is a local pastime for exactly this fish.
Limit
Counted as panfish. No minimum length, 10 per day.
Wisconsin state record
4 lbs 8 oz, 19.75 in
Where the record came from
Gile Flowage, Iron County, 1967-08-12
Registers as a trophy at
15 inches, DNR live-release standard

Other fish here

Illustration of a walleye.

Walleye

Sander vitreus

 Illustration of a muskellunge.

Muskellunge

Esox masquinongy

 Illustration of a northern pike.

Northern pike

Esox lucius

 Illustration of a largemouth bass.

Largemouth bass

Micropterus salmoides

 Illustration of a smallmouth bass.

Smallmouth bass

Micropterus dolomieu

 Illustration of a bluegill.

Bluegill

Lepomis macrochirus

 Illustration of a pumpkinseed.

Pumpkinseed

Lepomis gibbosus

 Illustration of a yellow perch.

Yellow perch

Perca flavescens

 Illustration of a rock bass.

Rock bass

Ambloplites rupestris

 Illustration of a white bass.

White bass

Morone chrysops

 Illustration of a lake sturgeon.

Lake sturgeon

Acipenser fulvescens

 Illustration of a channel catfish.

Channel catfish

Ictalurus punctatus

 Illustration of a black bullhead.

Black bullhead

Ameiurus melas

 Illustration of a freshwater drum.

Freshwater drum

Aplodinotus grunniens

 Illustration of a common carp.

Common carp

Cyprinus carpio

 Illustration of a bowfin.

Bowfin

Amia calva

 Illustration of a white crappie.

White crappie

Pomoxis annularis

 Illustration of a golden shiner.

Golden shiner

Notemigonus crysoleucas