Common. Stocked.

Walleye

Sander vitreus

The fish that most people drive to Shawano for, and the one the lake works hardest to produce. Two-thirds of the adults swimming in front of you were hatched in a volunteer-run trailer in Cecil.

When to go

Best months for walleye on Shawano Lake: May, June, and December.

January: good.

February: fair.

March: fair.

April: season closed.

Prime

May: prime.

Prime

June: prime.

July: good.

August: good.

September: good.

October: good.

November: good.

Prime

December: prime.

Spawn

Ice, most years Ice

Prime
Good
Fair
Slow
Season closed

When walleye spawn here

April, when the shallows hold 42 to 50 °F

Walleye run up the Shawano Outlet and the Wolf River in April, while the season is shut. They drop back into the lake before the May 2 opener, and the tail of that run is what the opener catches in the outlet and the Loon Lake channel.

Closed season. Closed March 8 to May 1. April is the only month with no open walleye season.

Why the year looks like this

May and June put walleye on the breaks in daylight. Once the water passes 70 °F they feed at night, and the stained water here makes that a hard rule. First ice in December turns them on again along the same weed edges.

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: 961
Length range: 8.6 – 27.4 inches
Average length: 19.0 inches
Adult population estimate: 5,257 fish (95% CI 3,616 – 8,224)
Density: 0.8 adults per acre, against a management goal of 1.5
Netting catch rate: 5.0 per net night, 60th percentile statewide
Size structure (PSD): 97, which is the 87th percentile statewide
Growth: An 18-inch walleye is about 6 years old. Moderate to fast.

What that means on the water

The population runs thin and the individual fish run large. You will not catch numbers, but almost every keeper-class fish in the lake is over 15 inches, and 27-inch fish are in the net. That PSD of 97 means 97 of every 100 stock-size walleye sampled were already quality size.

Where to find it

The steep drop-off north of Cecil Point. Work the sharp inside turns and the points, not the straight stretches.
Troll the deep weedlines in 6 to 8 feet with crankbaits.
The channel joining the lake to Loon Lake, where current concentrates fish.
The Shawano Outlet and the Wolf River during the spring run.

How to catch it

A 1/8 oz jig tipped with a ribbon leech or a fathead, worked on the structural breaks at dawn and dusk.
Troll shallow-running crankbaits along the outside weed edge in 6 to 8 ft.
Fish at night from late June through August. Stained water plus a full moon is the classic Shawano pattern.
On ice, jigging spoons and tip-ups after dark near the same weed edges.

Month-by-month calendar for walleye

Fish the outlet and the Loon Lake channel right after the May 2 opener, then go nocturnal on the deep weed edges from late June through August.

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

Walleye jig

1/8 oz in calm water, 3/8 oz in wind or current. Plain lead head, #2 hook.

The same lure as the panfish jig, in a weight heavy enough to hold bottom contact while the boat drifts. You tip it with a live leech, a fathead minnow, or a half crawler.

On this lake. Work it on the sharp inside turns of the drop-off north of Cecil Point, and on the points, not the straight stretches. Lift it a foot, let it fall on a tight line, and watch the line rather than feel for the bite.

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

Live bait

The rest of the bait fridge

Ribbon leeches, waxworms and spikes, all sold within a few miles of the lake.

A ribbon leech is a tough black leech that swims, not the medical kind. A waxworm is a bee-moth larva about the size of your fingernail. A spike is a fly larva about the size of a grain of rice.

On this lake. Leeches carry the walleye bite from May through June. Waxworms and spikes carry the panfish bite from first ice to last, two spikes to a 4 mm tungsten jig.

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

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.

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.

Lure

Spoon

Casting spoon, 1/2 to 1 oz for pike. Jigging spoon, 1/8 to 1/4 oz for walleye and perch under the ice.

A curved piece of metal with a hook on one end. It wobbles on the way back and flutters on the way down, and that falling flutter is what triggers a fish through the ice.

On this lake. Cast it over the cabbage for pike in May. Through the ice, drop a jigging spoon to the bottom, snap it up two feet, and let it fall on slack line. Walleye take it on the fall along the same weed edges you trolled in June.

January: yes.
February: yes.
March: yes.
April: no.
May: yes.
June: yes.
July: no.
August: no.
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 walleye

6 of the 10 named areas hold walleye. Tap a marker for the reason.

Spot	Why it holds them
Cecil Point drop-off	Travel Wisconsin names the steep break north of Cecil Point as the summer walleye spot. Work the sharp inside turns and the points along it rather than the straight sections.
The channel to Loon Lake	A 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 basin	The 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 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.
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.

All 10 spots and the season-by-season pattern

Records and rules

Season on Shawano Lake: Open water May 2 to March 7. Best in May and June, then again after dark all summer, then again on first ice.
Limit: 18-inch minimum, 3 per day. This is a Shawano and Waupaca county rule and it is stricter than most of the state.
Wisconsin state record: 18 lbs 0 oz
Where the record came from: High Lake, Vilas County, 1933-09-16
Registers as a trophy at: 29 inches, DNR live-release standard