How to Catch Tullibee (Cisco) and Whitefish in Minnesota: Ice Fishing & Netting

Tullibee, properly called cisco, and their larger cousin the lake whitefish are cold-water fish of Minnesota's deep northern and central lakes. Most are caught through the ice in February and March on tiny jigs tipped with waxworms, with tullibee suspended over deep water and whitefish closer to the bottom. Angling is open year-round with a 2026 limit of 15 of each species. Minnesota residents can also take them with a gill net in fall under a separate 10 dollar license, on specific lakes and dates the DNR posts each year.

Identification and habits

Both fish are silvery, large-scaled members of the salmon and trout family and carry the small fleshy adipose fin between the dorsal fin and tail. People confuse them with each other and with invasive or bait species, so look at the mouth:

	Tullibee (cisco)	Lake whitefish
Mouth	At the tip of the head; lower jaw even with or slightly longer than the upper	Under an overhanging, rounded snout
Typical size	10 to 16 inches; larger in fertile lakes	16 to 24 inches, several pounds
Where in the water	Suspended, in open water over the basin	On or near the bottom
Diet	Zooplankton, insect larvae, small fish	Bottom insects, snails, small clams, fish eggs

Both need cold water with enough oxygen through the summer. In a hot, calm summer, the layer of water that is both cold enough and oxygenated enough can shrink to nothing, and tullibee die-offs follow. That is why the DNR treats cisco as an indicator of lake health, and why keeping nutrients out of deep lakes matters for these fish in a warming climate.

They spawn in late fall, in November and into December, over shallow gravel and rock as the lakes are about to freeze. The fall netting season is built around that movement into the shallows.

Where they live

• Big walleye lakes. Mille Lacs, Leech, Winnibigoshish, Cass and Lake of the Woods all hold tullibee, and Leech and Lake of the Woods hold good whitefish too.
• Deep lakes of the Brainerd and Park Rapids areas. Many of the deeper lakes in Crow Wing, Cass and Hubbard counties have tullibee. See /lakes/crow-wing-county and /lakes/cass-county.
• Otter Tail County. A scattering of deep, fertile lakes produces very large tullibee, including Sybil Lake, source of the state record. See /lakes/otter-tail-county.
• The Arrowhead and border country. Vermilion, Rainy, Kabetogama, Namakan, Shagawa, Basswood and many lake trout lakes hold cisco, whitefish or both. See /lakes/st-louis-county.
• Lake Superior, where cisco are called lake herring and support a commercial fishery, and where anglers catch whitefish from shore and through the ice in protected bays.

Shallow, warm lakes in the southern third of the state generally do not have them.

Season by season

Period	What is happening	How people fish
May and June	Fish are still shallow enough to reach; tullibee rise to insect hatches on calm evenings	Small jigs and flies near the surface; often incidental
July to September	Both species hold in the cold layer near and below the thermocline	Rarely targeted
October to December	Spawning run into the shallows	Sport gill netting season on listed lakes
December and January	Fish return to the basins	Ice fishing begins, scattered
February and March	Schools concentrate over deep water and feed on emerging insect larvae	Peak ice fishing

Ice fishing techniques

Tullibee

1. Drill over the basin, off the edge of a flat or point, commonly in 25 to 50 feet of water. On Mille Lacs, the edges of the mud flats are the traditional spots.
2. Watch the flasher. Tullibee can come through at any depth, from just under the ice to near the bottom, and usually in groups.
3. Use a small tungsten jig, a tiny spoon or a small ice fly tipped with two or three waxworms or spikes. Some anglers hang a small fly on a dropper below a spoon that acts as an attractor.
4. Bring the bait to just above the fish and jiggle it gently while slowly lifting. Tullibee feed upward and will follow it.
5. Fight them gently. The mouth is paper-thin and hooks tear out under heavy pressure.

Whitefish

Whitefish feed on the bottom, so keep the bait within a foot of it. A small jigging spoon or a jig tipped with a minnow head or waxworms works, fished with short lifts and long pauses. On Lake of the Woods and Leech they are often caught by walleye anglers.

Dark house spearing

Whitefish may be speared from a dark house during the spearing season, which in 2026-27 runs November 15, 2026 through February 28, 2027, with a limit of 15. A spearing license is required for most adults.

Gear

• Rod: A light or ultralight ice rod, 26 to 32 inches, with a soft tip or spring bobber.
• Line: 3 to 4 pound monofilament or fluorocarbon. Go to 6 pound for whitefish.
• Lures: Tungsten jigs in sizes 3 to 5 millimeters, small spoons, ice flies, waxworms and spikes.
• Electronics: A flasher is close to essential for tullibee, because the whole game is matching your depth to suspended fish.
• Shelter: A portable helps on the open basins of big lakes. See the Minnesota ice fishing guide and /ice-fishing.

Angling regulations for 2026

Verified against the 2026 Minnesota DNR fishing regulations, effective March 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027:

Species	Season	Statewide possession limit
Cisco (tullibee)	Continuous	15 (fish over 7 inches)
Lake whitefish	Continuous	15 (fish over 7 inches)

Notes:

• Whitefish and cisco cannot be bought or sold by sport anglers.
• Mille Lacs Lake regulations, including for tullibee, are published separately and can change during the year.
• Cisco under 7 inches fall under bait rules, and there are restrictions on using cisco as bait away from the water where they were taken. Read the bait section before using them.

Sport gill netting

Netting whitefish and tullibee in late fall is a long-standing northern Minnesota tradition, and it is tightly regulated. The rules below are from the DNR's whitefish and cisco sport gill netting page.

• Who: Minnesota residents only, with an angling license and the netting license (10 dollars in 2026).
• Gear: One gill net per person, at most 100 feet long and 3 feet deep, marked with a pole or buoy and tagged with the owner's name and address. Minimum mesh size is set lake by lake, either 3.5 inches or 1.75 inches stretch measure.
• Where in the lake: Nets may not be set in water deeper than 6 feet or within 50 feet of another net.
• When: Nets may not be set or lifted between sunset and sunrise and must be tended at least every 24 hours by the license holder.
• Bycatch: Native rough fish and common carp caught in the net may be kept; every other non-target fish, including all game fish, must be returned to the water immediately. You may not have angling gear with you while netting.
• Limits: The netted harvest of whitefish and cisco is not capped on most waters. Within the Leech Lake Reservation the possession limits are 25 whitefish and 50 cisco.
• Invasive species: A net used in a lake infested with zebra mussels or spiny water fleas may not be used in any other water. Nets from other infested waters must be dried 10 days or frozen 2 days first. See clean, drain, dispose.

Lakes fall into two groups. Schedule II lakes, which include Leech, Lake of the Woods, Kabetogama, Cass, Gull and Pokegama, open on preset dates. The most recent schedule posted when this was checked in October 2026 showed windows beginning in mid-October or the first half of November and ending in mid-December. Schedule I lakes, including Vermilion, Shagawa and Basswood, open and close on 48-hour notice posted at accesses, based on fish abundance and water temperature. Do not rely on last year's dates; check the DNR page each fall.

State records

From the DNR state record fish program:

• Cisco (tullibee): 5 pounds 13 ounces, 20.75 inches, Sybil Lake, Otter Tail County, March 9, 2015.
• Lake whitefish: 13 pounds 9 ounces, 29.5 inches, Lake of the Woods, April 6, 2019.

Handling, release and the table

• Deep-water release is unreliable. Tullibee pulled up from 40 feet often cannot get back down. If you are fishing deep, keep what you catch up to what you will use and then stop, instead of catching and releasing dozens.
• Handle gently and quickly. Scales come off easily and the fish are delicate. Unhook in the hole when you can.
• Smoke them. Brine overnight, then smoke until golden. Smoked tullibee and whitefish are the reason most people fish for them. Whitefish are also good baked or pickled.

Before you go

• Find a deep, cold lake with a known cisco population, bring a flasher and the smallest jigs you own, and go in late winter.
• The angling limit is 15 of each species in 2026; netting is a separate license, residents only, with dates that change every fall.
• Have a plan for the fish. A smoker is the right tool.