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Present. Open all year, 25 per day.

Channel catfish

Ictalurus punctatus

A summer night fish. Almost nobody on this lake targets them.

When to go

Best months for channel catfish on Shawano Lake: July and August.

January: slow.

February: slow.

March: slow.

April: slow.

May: fair.

June: good.

Prime

July: prime.

Prime

August: prime.

September: good.

October: fair.

November: slow.

December: slow.

Spawn

Ice, most years Ice

Prime
Good
Fair
Slow
Season closed

When channel catfish spawn here

June, when the shallows hold 70 to 80 °F

Catfish spawn in cavities: undercut banks, log jams and rip-rap holes in the outlet and the Wolf River, in June. They are hard to catch during it and they feed hard after.

Why the year looks like this

The hottest water of the year is the best catfish water of the year. Fish the deep holes in the outlet and the main basin after dark. 25 per day, and nobody competes with you.

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

Shawano Lake data: No stand-alone table in the 2023 comprehensive report.
Season: Open all year, 25 per day, no minimum length.

What that means on the water

Catfish are not surveyed here, so the silence in the report tells you nothing about how many there are. The Wolf River system holds them, and the outlet connects the lake to the river.

Where to find it

Fish the deep holes in the outlet and the Wolf River.
Work the main lake basin after dark in midsummer.
Try the water below the Shawano dam.

How to catch it

A bunch of crawlers or cut bait on a #2 hook behind a sliding sinker, after dark.
Anchor above a hole and let the scent work downstream.

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.

Live bait · Start here

Nightcrawler

A dozen in a foam cup, about $4 at any bait shop in Shawano or Cecil.

A big earthworm, four to six inches long. It is not a garden worm and it is not a red wiggler. For panfish you pinch off a half-inch piece; the whole worm is for catfish and bullhead.

On this lake. A half inch of crawler on a #10 hook under a float, fished within a cast of shore, is the easiest fish you will catch on this lake. It is also what to hand a kid.

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

Terminal tackle

Hooks

#10 and #8 for panfish, #6 for perch, #4 for catfish, 1/0 for a plastic worm.

Hook sizes count backwards. A #10 is small enough to hide inside a pinch of crawler. Once the numbers pass #1 they flip to 1/0, 3/0, 5/0, and those get bigger as the number climbs.

On this lake. Almost everything on Shawano Lake is caught on a #10, a #8 or a #6. Buy those three and you can fish the whole lake.

January: yes.
February: yes.
March: yes.
April: yes.
May: yes.
June: yes.
July: yes.
August: yes.
September: yes.
October: yes.
November: yes.
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 channel catfish

2 of the 10 named areas hold channel catfish. Tap a marker for the reason.

Spot	Why it holds them
Shawano Lake Outlet	The 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 below the dam	The spring run water, and the bank where people gather in April to watch lake sturgeon spawn. Note the closure: from April 15 to May 15 the stretch below the dam is a fish refuge and is off limits.

All 10 spots and the season-by-season pattern