Salmon family
Cisco
Coregonus artedi · also called tullibee, lake herring
- Needs
- Cold, well-oxygenated water: 54°F is optimal and 76°F is lethal
- Range
- The northern two-thirds of Minnesota, at the southern edge of the species' range
- Food for
- Walleye, northern pike, muskellunge and lake trout
- Minnesota lakes
- Roughly 650 lakes hold tullibee, the most of any state in the contiguous U.S.
- Minnesota record
- 5 lb 13 oz, 20¾ in — Sybil Lake, Otter Tail County, 2015
Where cisco have been recorded
330 of the 1,788 Minnesota lakes on this site with fish records list cisco, across 22 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.
Recorded here Other lakes with fish records
How we know
- 330lakes where a DNR fisheries survey caught them
A lake can appear in more than one line. A lake that isn’t listed may still have them: records exist only where someone caught, netted or stocked them.
Inland lakes on this list run from 7 to 128,184 acres (median 550) and from 5 to 500 ft deep (median 60 ft).
How many turn up in DNR surveys
Minnesota DNR lake surveys use standard gear: gill nets set offshore for 24 hours (the main gear for walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, cisco, whitefish and trout), trap nets set near shore (the main gear for bluegill, crappie and bullheads), and on some lakes electrofishing, most often for bass. The DNR reports each gear separately, as fish per net set. These rates come from the newest standard survey of each lake on this site, 1959–2025 — a measure of how many fish a lake holds, not how many an angler will catch.
- Found in
- 297 of 1579 lakes surveyed this way
- Typical rate
- 1.5 per gill net where found
- Highest
- 44 per gill net
- Method
- fish per gill net set
“Typical” is the median across the lakes where the survey caught at least one. Each gear catches different fish, so the rates are not added together. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.
Highest survey rates on this site
- Pillager Lake, Cass 2023 44
- Middle Spunk Lake, Stearns 2023 36
- Hanks Lake, Crow Wing 2023 28
- Hanging Horn Lake, Carlton 2020 26
- Fraser Lake, Lake County 1986 23
- Eleventh Crow Wing Lake (Main), Hubbard 2021 23
- Hatch Lake, Itasca 2013 22
- Little Bemidji Lake, Becker 2023 22
- Little Vermilion Lake, St. Louis 2021 20
- South Farm Lake, Lake County 2023 20
Fish per gill net set, with survey year. Survey effort and season differ between lakes.
Often found with
Share of these lakes that also list each fish.
How to recognize it
Slim and silver, cisco travel in big schools. As a member of the salmon family it carries a small fleshy adipose fin on its back, and its lower jaw extends as far as, or past, the snout.
Don’t confuse it with
Life in a Minnesota lake
In summer, when a lake stratifies, cisco retreat below the warm surface layer. If the deep, cold water runs out of oxygen, often in lakes with too many nutrients and algae, they are squeezed between water too warm above and too low in oxygen below, and die-offs can follow in late summer.
The DNR's survey nets have shown a long statewide decline. A DNR and University of Minnesota study identified 176 refuge lakes predicted to keep enough cool, oxygenated water in late summer to hold cisco for decades, and keeping their watersheds forested helps keep them clear of nutrients. Cisco are a fatty, energy-rich food: DNR research found larger northern pike in lakes that have them.
Source: the sources below.
Rules and eating
Check the rules before you keep fish. Each lake page shows the regulations that apply there, and the Minnesota DNR fishing regulations page is the official source. Before eating fish from a particular lake, check the Minnesota Department of Health’s fish consumption guidance.
All 330 lakes with cisco
Show every lake, by county
Aitkin County 10
Ball Bluff Lake, Big Sandy Lake, Cedar Lake (Main Basin), Cedar Lake (N.E. Arm), Cedar Lake (West Bay), Dam Lake, Farm Island Lake, Long Lake, Round Lake, Spirit Lake
Becker County 14
Bad Medicine Lake, Cotton Lake, Elbow Lake, Ice Cracking Lake, Lake Eunice, Lake Melissa, Little Bemidji Lake, Long Lake, Many Point Lake, Meadow Lake, Round Lake, Straight Lake, Two Inlets Lake, White Earth Lake
Beltrami County 19
Andrusia Lake, Beltrami Lake, Big Lake, Buzzle Lake, Cass Lake, Clearwater Lake, Gilstad Lake, Grant Lake, Lake Bemidji (main lake), Lake Campbell, Lake Irving, Lake Marquette, Little Turtle Lake, Movil Lake, Pimushe Lake, Three Island Lake, Turtle Lake, Turtle River Lake, Wolf Lake
Carlton County 1
Cass County 49
Baby Lake, Bass Lake, Black Water Lake, Bowen Lake, Boy Lake, Broadwater Bay, Child Lake, Cooper Lake, Crooked Lake, Deep Portage Lake, Five Point Lake, Gull Lake, Hand Lake, Howard Lake, Inguadona Lake (N. Bay), Inguadona Lake (S. Bay), Jack Lake, Kid Lake, Lake Ada, Lake Hattie, Lake Margaret, Lake May, Lake Winnibigoshish, Lawrence Lake, Leavitt Lake, Leech Lake (Kabekona Bay), Leech Lake (Main Basin), Little Boy Lake, Little Thunder Lake (East Bay), Little Thunder Lake (West Bay), Long Lake, Long Lake, Lower Trelipe Lake, Man Lake, Pike Bay, Pillager Lake, Pine Mountain Lake, Pleasant Lake, Portage Lake, Portage Lake, Roosevelt Lake, Sixmile Lake, Thunder Lake, Upper Gull Lake, Wabedo Lake (North East Bay), Wabedo Lake (South West Bay), Washburn Lake, Welch Lake, Woman Lake (main lake)
Clearwater County 3
Cook County 6
Alton Lake, Brule Lake, Flour Lake, Greenwood Lake, Loon Lake, Magnetic Lake
Crow Wing County 40
Allen Lake, Bay Lake, Bertha Lake, Big Trout Lake, Borden Lake, Clamshell Lake, Clear Lake, Clearwater Lake, Crooked Lake (Main Bay), Crooked Lake (Sugar Bay), Cross Lake Reservoir, Eagle Lake, East Fox Lake, Hanks Lake, Island Lake, Kimball Lake, Lake Edna, Little Pine Lake, Lower Cullen Lake, Lower Hay Lake, Lower Whitefish Lake, Mahnomen, Alstead & Arco Lake, Middle Cullen Lake, Mitchell Lake, Nokay Lake, North Long Lake, Ossawinnamakee Lake, Pelican Lake, Pennington Mine, Pig Lake, Portage Lake, Rush Lake, Sagamore Mine, Smith Lake, South Long Lake, Star Lake, Upper Mission Lake, Upper South Long Lake, West Fox Lake, Whitefish Lake
Douglas County 9
Lake Darling, Lake Ida, Lake Irene, Lake Latoka, Lake Le Homme Dieu, Lake Miltona, Lake Mina, Lake Rachel, North Union Lake
Hubbard County 27
Benedict Lake, Big Sand Lake, Blue Lake, Eagle Lake, East Crooked Lake, Eighth Crow Wing Lake, Eleventh Crow Wing Lake (East), Eleventh Crow Wing Lake (Main), Fishhook Lake, Kabekona Lake, LaSalle Lake, Lake Hattie, Lake Plantagenet, Little Sand Lake, Long Lake, Mantrap Lake (East Basin), Mantrap Lake (Home Bay), Mantrap Lake (Middle Basin), Mantrap Lake (Mirror Bay), Mantrap Lake (West Arm), Potato Lake, Second Crow Wing Lake, Seventh Crow Wing Lake, Shingobee Lake, Spearhead Lake, Tenth Crow Wing Lake, Third Crow Wing Lake
Itasca County 69
Alice Lake, Antler Lake, Aspen Lake, Ball Club Lake, Balsam Lake, Bass Lake, Bello Lake, Big Too Much Lake, Bluewater Lake, Bowstring Lake, Cedar Lake, Chase Lake, Clubhouse Lake, Crooked Lake, Cut Foot Sioux Lake (East Bay), Cut Foot Sioux Lake (Main Bay), Deer Lake, Deer Lake, East Lake, Five Island Lake, Fox Lake, Grave Lake, Gunn Lake, Hale Lake, Hartley Lake, Hatch Lake, Highland Lake, Horseshoe Lake, Island Lake, Jack the Horse Lake (North), Jack the Horse Lake (South), Jessie Lake, Johnson Lake, Lake Elizabeth, Little Bass Lake, Little Bowstring Lake, Little Jay Gould Lake, Little Jessie Lake, Little North Star Lake, Little Sand Lake, Little Spring Lake, Little Too Much Lake, Little Turtle Lake, Little Wabana Lake, Little Winnibigoshish Lake, Long Lake, Lundeen Lake, Maple Lake, Moose Lake, North Star Lake, Pickerel Lake, Pokegama Lake (Main Bay), Pokegama Lake (Wendigo), Poplar Lake, Rice Lake, Round Lake, Ruby Lake, Shallow Lake, Siseebakwet Lake, Slauson Lake, South Twin Lake, Split Hand Lake, Spring Lake, Swan Lake (Main Basin), Swan Lake (West Bay), Trout Lake, Turtle Lake, Wabana Lake, Whitefish Lake
Kandiyohi County 1
Lake County 11
Alice Lake, Amber Lake, Cedar Lake, Fall Lake, Farm Lake, Fraser Lake, Garden Lake, Ottertrack Lake, Snowbank Lake, South Farm Lake, Thomas Lake
Mahnomen County 4
Mille Lacs County 1
Morrison County 1
Otter Tail County 19
Big Pine Lake, Boedigheimer Lake, Clitherall Lake, Crystal Lake, Dead Lake, Lake Blanche, Lake Franklin, Lake Jewett, Little Pine Lake, Long Lake, Long Lake, Middle Leaf Lake, North Lida Lake, Otter Tail Lake, Pickerel Lake, Rush Lake, Scalp Lake, South Lida Lake, West Leaf Lake
St. Louis County 32
Bear Island Lake, Birch Lake, Crane Lake, Dewey Lake, Dry Lake, East Vermilion Lake, Elbow Lake, Esquagama Lake, Johnson Lake, Kabetogama Lake, Kjostad Lake, Lake Leander, Little Trout Lake, Little Vermilion Lake, Loon Lake, Mukooda Lake, Namakan Lake, Prairie Lake, Rainy Lake, Sabin Lake, Sabin Lake (Embarrass Mine), Sand Point Lake, Shagawa Lake, Spring Lake, St. Mary's Lake, Stuart Lake, Sturgeon Lake, Trout Lake, West Sturgeon Lake, West Vermilion Lake, White Iron Lake, Wynne Lake
Stearns County 3
Todd County 8
Bass Lake, Charlotte Lake, Lake Osakis, Lily Lake, Long Lake, Sauk Lake (North Bay), Sauk Lake (Southwest Bay), Turtle Lake
Washington County 1
Wright County 2
Sources
- Minnesota DNR: Cisco and lake whitefish, telling the difference
- Minnesota Conservation Volunteer (DNR): The cisco squeeze, March-April 2026
- Minnesota Conservation Volunteer (DNR): Refuge for the tullibees, May-June 2016
- Minnesota DNR: Fish species classification for the lake index of biological integrity (native and non-native species)
- Minnesota DNR lake surveys (LakeFinder) — lake records, stocking and survey catch rates. Minnesota DNR contributed to this work.
- Minnesota DNR state record fish (certified and non-certified weight lists; angler names are not reproduced here)