Tulibee

[Renn]

Does anyone have any information they can share about tulibee? Specifically, spawning locations, spawning water temps., etc.

Planning a fall muskie hunt. Thinking about middle to late October, trying to fish the tulibee spawn.

Thanks in advance.
Renn

[Bob Jensen]

Great question. When I guided on Leech Lake we always looked forward to the fall spawn. I don't recall water temps, but the best areas were sand/rubble reefs near deep water, or sand/rubble shorelines that broke into deep water quickly.

We would go into these areas during the day with our paper graphs and do some scouting. When the large concentrations of tullibee, cisco, whitefish, etc would appear suspended near their spawning areas during the day, we knew they would move into the spawning areas at night. They would suspend over 30-90 feet of water during the day, and be in 5-8 feet of water at night. Walleyes and muskies were often close behind.

I caught one of the biggest walleyes of my life on a shallow reef trolling crankbaits at night when the tullibee were on the reef spawning. This pattern usually presented itself in mid-October I believe, although I remember getting into it on Halloween one year also.

It's a good pattern, let us know how you do.

Best Fishes,

[Renn]

Bob,

Thanks for the response. What is the typical water temp range that the tulibee spawn at?

I like the explanation of the location because the area we are looking at fishing does have sand and some rock rubble with deep water near.

Thanks again.
Renn

[Bob Jensen]

Can't remember water temps, haven't fished that pattern for several years now. Paper graphs were the big deal back then, and I don't remember if they had water temp capability. I don't think they did. I had water temp gauges in my boats, but I just don't recall temps.

Sorry.

Best Fishes,

Bob Jensen

[RK_unlogged]

Hiya -

Go find the fall issue of Esox Angler magazine. It has an article in there by Dan Craven that is one of the most thorough summaries of cisco behavior I've ever seen. It's tremendous.

Won't give the whole thing away, but when I read that article, most of what I thought I knew about cisco behavior, especially in fall, went out the window...

Seriously, it's well worth seeking out.

Cheers,
Rob Kimm

[Bob Jensen]

I worked at Camp Fish with Dan, he was a very successful musky angler then, he's one of the best now. If he wrote an article regarding this topic, and you're interested in the topic, I would wholeheartedly suggest you check it out.

Best Fishes,

[Renn]

I will try to find that issue. Thanks for the suggestion!!

Renn

[Renn]

Bob,

Thanks again for the information concerning the tulibee. Upon talking to the creel surveyer we found out that there was a large tulibee kill this summer that destroyed most of the lakes tulibee population. So we were unable to fish that pattern.

I did, however have a very productive two days of muskie fishing in Minnesota by boating a 28" walleye and a 48"x27" muskie nearing the end of our last day!!! We will definitely go back!!

Thanks for your help and keep up your great work!!

Renn

[Bob Jensen]

Thanks for the report. So often people go to Message Boards and ask for information, etc. and then never report the results of the info they got.

Your report is truly appreciated. Sounds like you took some nice fish.

Best Fishes,

[RK_unlogged]

Thanks for reporting back! Sounds like you got a couple nice fish...

There was a cisco kill on quite a few lakes this summer. The lake my cabin is on (near Pelican Rapids Minnesota) had a pretty severe one. First dieoff I've seen there since 1987.

The good news is the high temp/low oxygen conditions that cause a dieoff most severely effect the biggest ciscoes. They have the least tolerance for less than ideal conditions. Juvenile ciscoes actually weather it pretty well, so the population will hopefully rebound. Ciscoes are remarkable critters....

Cheers,
Rob Kimm

[Renn]

The DNR representative we were talking to mentioned they placed a large number of nets throughout the lake and they only caught 70 tulibee. He was concerned what effect that would have on the muskie situation. He mentioned many perch fisherman had been complaining that the muskie were tearing up the perch that were being reeled in. Maybe next year will be a banner year to catch muskies due to low baitfish numbers?? Similar to the walleye year a few years back on Mille Lacs when the perch fry population was very low???

It's interesting how mother nature maintains lake balances!

Renn