Quillback fishing in Canada

Carpiodes cyprinus

Documented at

75 waters

Primary species at

0 waters

Ideal water temp

15°C

Active range

8–21°C

Best quillback waters today

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

1. Sims CreekRiver73
2. Dinorwic Lake (Dryden)Lake72
3. Dinorwic Lake (Dryden)Lake71
4. Wabigoon RiverRiver71
5. Marchington Lake (Sioux Lookout)Lake71
6. McGinnis CreekRiver71
7. Churchill Lake (Sioux Lookout)Lake70
8. Rainy River (rivière à la Pluie)River70
9. Wilson CreekRiver69
10. Tobacco CreekRiver68

How to fish for quillback

Quillback are a deep-bodied, silvery sucker of larger rivers and lakes, named for the long trailing ray at the front of the dorsal fin, and often mistaken at a glance for carp despite being a native sucker with the family's downturned bottom-feeding mouth. They aren't a prized gamefish but are caught incidentally on bottom baits and taken by bowfishers, who sometimes confuse them with carp. They feed on bottom invertebrates and detritus and tolerate a fair range of river conditions. On a location page, quillback are a forage species and general presence in warmer, larger waters - part of the food base for big predators rather than a species most anglers target.

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