How they bitin’?” called the driver of an ATV as he hitched a portable ice shelter to the back of his machine. “Oh, pretty good ,” responded a man in a pickup. “We filled four buckets this morning, then they slowed down.”

Buoyed by that news, the men put the three-wheeler in gear and headed onto the frozen expanses of Leech Lake, in search of tullibees. Leech, one of Minnesota’s finest walleye producers, is also renowned for huge muskies, lunker largemouths, and nice perch.

But in March, Leech Lake is tullibeeland. Ditto for Mille Lacs, the state’s premier walleye fishery, and also a top producer of muskies, pike, perch, and smallmouth bass. The annual tullibee “run” is an event not to be missed by anglers there, too.

Tullibees

In the United States, the tullibee is the most common member of the whitefish family (Coregonidae). Some ichthyologists, though, consider this fish group a subfamily of the trout family (Salmonidae). The tullibee, Coregonus artedii, also is known as the cisco or lake herring. The whitefish clan contains at least 18 species in three genera, plus many subspecies and local varieties or races.

The tullibee range extends from the Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins north to Labrador and northwest to the Mackenzie River drainage, including the coastal waters of Hudson Bay. Wherever they’re found in large numbers, ice anglers target tullibees, for their delicate flesh, a treat whether baked, pan fried, smoked, or canned. And the fast action they provide appeals to kids and ice veterans alike.

There’s no denying the attraction of the tullibee, a sleek and beautiful fish, if a bit slimy. In Leech Lake, tullibees average nearly 11⁄2 pounds, with occasional 3-pounders mixed in to test the ultralight panfish tackle usually used to catch them.

Tullibees feed primarily on zooplankton, like Daphnia and copepods, and on aquatic insect larvae they ingest from the water column or from the bottom. In other lakes, tullibees run smaller, to the extent that some biologists believe a dwarf strain exists that may be genetically identifiable.

When large schools of tullibees feed actively, teardrops and other shapes of ice lures in the 1/50- to 1/32-ounce range take ‘em by the bucketful. When fish are more finicky, though, darting toward baits before turning away, thin-diameter 2-pound-test mono with the teeniest of ice baits tipped with a maggot provides action.

Lake Whitefish

For heavy-duty ice fishing action, try the tullibee’s larger cousin, the lake whitefish. This member of the clan averages from 3 to 6 pounds in the diverse lakes it occupies. The current angling record (14 pounds 6 ounces) came from Lake Medford, Ontario, in 1984, a record often approached by whitefish from other lakes in Canada. Commercial fisheries take many whitefish from Canadian lakes and the Great Lakes. A 42-pounder reportedly was taken commercially off Isle Royale in Lake Superior around 1918.

Like tullibees, lake whitefish are coldwater fish, preferring water temperatures in the 50°F range, hence their great potential for offering ice fishing action. They reach their greatest abundance in lakes north of the 50th parallel and range across Canada from Nova Scotia to the Northwest Territories and north through Alaska. In the United States, they range from Maine across the northern tier of the Great Lakes states and into Washington and Oregon.

Lake whitefish are silvery colored with a thick body and relatively small head. Larger specimens develop a broad back that almost forms a hump (shoulders) that provide awesome pulling power when hooked. Like tullibees, whitefish are relatives of trout and salmon, evidenced by a soft adipose fin on the back between the dorsal fin and tail. Whitefish have a prominent overhanging snout, much different from the tullibee’s long lower jaw and straight mouth.