Cisco fishing in Canada

Coregonus artedi

Documented at: 1,514 waters
Primary species at: 0 waters
Ideal water temp: 11°C
Active range: 8–14°C

Best cisco waters today

Scored for 2026-09-14 from live weather, water temperature and this species’ own thermal range.

How to fish for cisco

Cisco (also called lake herring or tullibee) are a slender, silvery, cold-water schooling fish more often thought of as forage or a commercial species than a rod target - but they're genuinely fished, especially through the ice, where they're prized both as excellent eating and as premium bait for lake trout and northern pike. They feed on plankton and small invertebrates high in the water column, so unlike most species here they're often caught well off bottom: small spoons, tiny jigs, and flies fished at the depth a school is holding (found on sonar) are the productive approach, with a light, subtle action. Cisco are exceptionally sensitive to warm water and low oxygen - they need cold, well-oxygenated water year-round, which is exactly why they hold deep in summer and why this app treats them as the classic oxythermal-squeeze species. In fall they move shallow to spawn over rocky or gravel areas, a real, predictable run that briefly makes them far more accessible from shore. A located school is worth staying on, since they travel in large numbers.

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