I live in Terre Haute, have been to Raccoon up north and Mill Creek in Illinois, both of which would be hard to fish from shore. Sullivan is a nice lake, more shore fishing available but still not ideal. The parks are ok, I'd say Fowler has the best bass fishing from shore. I believe Rose Hulman has a park and lake out their way where you can rent a boat real cheap for the day, you might check into that. Also, if your a college guy and know anyone that lives in Village Quarter Apartments (on Hwy 46, north of Wal-Mart), they have a lake that people living there and their guests can use, it's pretty good size and you can get around it completely from shore. Don't know what kind of fish it has though.
I saw someone mentioned Patoka, which I fish frequently and think it's the best bass lake in Indiana, but if you don't have a boat or are going with someone with a boat, I wouldn't waste your time driving that far to shore fish, not much opportunity there if you really want to fish that 8800 acre lake.