Habitat

Tullibees live in deep, cold lakes. They are true pelagics, staying deep throughout the year. They roam the deep open water, far from any structure, feeding chiefly on plankton and insect larvae. That's the trouble - because they don't relate to structure as other fish do, there's no way to know where they will be at any given time. You have to search a wide area to find a school - and the bigger the lake, the harder this is (with a few exceptions). Look for deep bowls in the lake bottom, or steep-sided points that stick far out into the lake. It's not as if the tullibees relate to these structures - it's just a natural place to start your search. Take your time, cover the water - and don't get frustrated. Once you're on a good school, it's easy to catch a hundred or more per day - so be persistant! Tullibees spawn in the fall, with vast schools of them congregating on shallow rock reefs to lay their eggs. Giant pike and muskies follow the spawners and stuff themselves with these rich morsels. In the summertime, certain lakes can grow too warm for tullibees to survive, resulting in a "summerkill" of these fish.