← All species

Common.

Largemouth bass

Micropterus salmoides

Docks, reeds, weed flats, deep weedlines. A lake built for a Texas rig.

When to go

Best months for largemouth bass on Shawano Lake: June and September.

January: slow.

February: slow.

March: slow.

April: season closed.

May: good.

Prime

June: prime.

July: good.

August: good.

Prime

September: prime.

October: good.

November: fair.

December: slow.

Spawn 60–70 °F

Ice, most years Ice

Prime
Good
Fair
Slow
Season closed

When largemouth bass spawn here

May and June, when the shallows hold 60 to 70 °F

Beds go on the sand and the soft bottom in the shallow bays, Cecil Bay first because it warms first. In a normal year that is the back half of May into the first half of June, which is right after the May 2 opener.

Closed season. Closed March 8 to May 1.

Why the year looks like this

Post-spawn June bass sit in the pads and under the docks where you can see them. September is the second window, when they feed hard before the water turns over. They barely feed under the ice, so a January bass here is an accident.

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): 112
Length range: 3.2 – 18.6 inches
Average length: 11.3 inches
Electrofishing catch rate: 14.5 per mile, 50th percentile statewide
Fish 14 inches and over: 3.2 per mile, 53rd percentile
Size structure (PSD): 49, which is the 34th percentile statewide
Shawano Outlet, for comparison: PSD 73, and 5.9 fish per mile over 14 inches. Better than the main lake.

What that means on the water

Average, and slowly sliding. Abundance has fallen from 40.7 per mile in 2006 to 14.5 in 2023, and PSD from 88 to 49. You can catch bass of every size including keepers over 14 inches, but fish over 18 inches are scarce. If you want size, fish the Outlet rather than the main basin.

Where to find it

Skip a natural-colored worm under the boat docks.
Fish the reed beds and lily pads in the shallow bays.
Cecil Bay, which is shallow with heavy vegetation.
Move to the deep weedlines on the main basin in midsummer.
The Shawano Outlet, for the best average size in the system.

How to catch it

A 6-inch Texas-rigged worm in green pumpkin on a 1/0 wide-gap hook, skipped under the docks.
Weedless soft plastics over the pads in summer.
Buzzbaits, prop baits and poppers to cover scattered fish on shallow weed flats.
Topwater at dawn, before the recreational boat traffic starts.

Month-by-month calendar for largemouth bass

Texas-rig the pads and the reeds through summer, work the docks at dawn, and fish the Shawano Lake Outlet if you want the biggest fish in the system.

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.

Lure · Start here

Plastic worm

5 to 7 inches, green pumpkin or black. Weightless on a 1/0 wide-gap hook.

A soft plastic worm on a hook buried in its own body, so it comes through weed and dock cribbing clean. With no weight it falls slowly and horizontally.

On this lake. Skip it under the boat docks along the north shore and let it sink on a slack line. Shawano largemouth sit in that shade all summer, and a slow fall in the shade beats anything moving fast.

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

Lure

Spinnerbait

3/8 oz, white or chartreuse skirt, single Colorado blade for stained water.

A bent wire with a blade on the top arm and a skirted hook on the bottom. The wire runs interference, so it comes through weed and timber that would snag anything else.

On this lake. The bait for the reed beds and the pads in Cecil Bay, where a treble hook would foul on every cast. A Colorado blade thumps hardest, and in water this stained the thump is what the bass find.

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

Lure

Paddle-tail swimbait

3 to 5 inches on a 1/4 oz head for bass and pike. 8 to 10 inches for musky.

A soft plastic fish with a flat paddle on the tail. Reel it steadily and the paddle kicks. It needs no rod work at all.

On this lake. The easiest way to cover the deep weed edge on the main basin. Count it down to the top of the cabbage and reel just fast enough to feel the tail.

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

Lure

Crankbait

Shallow-running, 2 to 3 inches, rated to 6 to 8 feet. Perch and shiner patterns, or firetiger in stained water.

A hard plastic minnow with a plastic lip on the nose. The lip drives it down as you reel, and the deeper the rating you buy, the bigger the lip.

On this lake. Troll it along the outside weed edge in 6 to 8 feet for walleye. This is the classic Shawano evening pattern, and the weed edge is where it lives, so keep the lure ticking the top of the cabbage.

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

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 largemouth bass

3 of the 10 named areas hold largemouth bass. Tap a marker for the reason.

Spot	Why it holds them
Cecil Bay and the east taper	The 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.
North shore flats, off the county park	Sand bottom under weed growth, with the biggest launch on the lake a cast away. The DNR electrofished this shoreline and counted 123.3 bluegill and 85.3 pumpkinseed per mile.
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.

All 10 spots and the season-by-season pattern

Records and rules

Season on Shawano Lake: May 2 to March 7. Spawn happens at 60 to 70 degrees in the shallow bays.
Limit: 14-inch minimum, 5 per day, combined with smallmouth.
Wisconsin state record: 11 lbs 3 oz
Where the record came from: Lake Ripley, Jefferson County, 1940-10-12
Registers as a trophy at: 22 inches, DNR live-release standard