Golden shiner

Notemigonus crysoleucas

The forage fish that the pike and the walleye are eating. Match it.

When to go

Best months for golden shiner on Shawano Lake: May, June, July, August, and September.

January: fair.

February: fair.

March: fair.

April: fair.

Prime

May: good.

Prime

June: good.

Prime

July: good.

Prime

August: good.

Prime

September: good.

October: fair.

November: fair.

December: fair.

Spawn 68–80 °F

Ice, most years Ice

Prime
Good
Fair
Slow
Season closed

When golden shiner spawn here

May to July, when the shallows hold 68 to 80 °F

Golden shiner scatter sticky eggs over weed and algae from late May into July, in several batches rather than one event.

Why the year looks like this

This is a bait species, not a target. Follow the Wisconsin live-bait transport rules: bait that touches this water does not leave in your bucket.

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

Role: Forage species. Also sold and used as live bait.
Bait law: Wisconsin restricts moving live bait between waters. Check the current rules before you haul a bucket.

What that means on the water

Golden shiners school in weedy shallow water, which describes most of this lake. A big shiner on a tip-up is the standard Shawano pike bait in winter.

Where to find it

Look for them schooling in the weedy shallows.

How to catch it

Buy them at a local bait shop rather than moving bait between lakes.

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.

Terminal tackle · Start here

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.