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

Pumpkinseed

Lepomis gibbosus

Shawano Lake ranks in the 96th percentile statewide for pumpkinseed density and the 98th percentile for pumpkinseed over 7 inches. Nothing else in this lake scores that high.

When to go

Best months for pumpkinseed on Shawano Lake: June.

January: fair.

February: fair.

March: fair.

April: fair.

May: good.

Prime

June: prime.

July: good.

August: good.

September: good.

October: fair.

November: fair.

December: fair.

Spawn 60–70 °F

Ice, most years Ice

Prime
Good
Fair
Slow
Season closed

When pumpkinseed spawn here

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

Pumpkinseed bed on sand and gravel in 1 to 5 feet, right up against shore. The shallows here hit 60 °F in the back half of May in a normal year, so the beds go in from about May 20 through June. They bed in colonies, so when you find one you have found forty.

Why the year looks like this

They hold shallow from the time the water passes 62 °F in May until it drops back through 75 °F in August, which is the longest easy window of any fish here. After that they slide to 4 to 10 feet on the same flats. Winter is fair, not good.

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, both gears): 333
Length range: 3.0 – 8.5 inches
Electrofishing catch rate: 85.3 per mile, 96th percentile statewide
Fish 7 inches and over: 16.0 per mile, 98th percentile statewide
Size structure (PSD): 54, which is the 70th percentile statewide
Trend: Catch rate rose from 22.0 per mile in 2006 to 85.3 in 2023.

What that means on the water

This population has climbed steadily since 2006. The DNR credits the invasive zebra mussels and the snails: pumpkinseed have molar-like throat teeth built for crushing shells, so the invasion that hurt the lake in other ways handed this one fish a buffet.

Where to find it

Fish sand and gravel in the shallow nearshore, especially at spawning time.
Work the weed edges and the dock lines all summer.
Stop anywhere you find snails and mussel beds.

How to catch it

A #10 hook, a half inch of nightcrawler and one BB split shot, under a 1-inch float, in 1 to 5 feet.
The easiest fish in the lake to put a kid on.

Month-by-month calendar for pumpkinseed

Fish weedy shallows on the north shore and in Cecil Bay with a small jig and a worm. This is the best pumpkinseed population in Wisconsin.

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.

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

Lure

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.

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.

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.

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 pumpkinseed

5 of the 10 named areas hold pumpkinseed. 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.
Wolf River Pond	The 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 Lake	The 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.