Tony Roach talks about how to catch ciscos and why it needs to be a fish that you target this winter through the ice.
Fishing Ciscos with Tony Roach
I think one of the most overlooked species throughout the ice belt are ciscos or otherwise known as Tullibee.
You know they’re really fun, they fight aggressively, and they’re all over in a lot of basins in a lot of lakes.
In a lot of the areas I am searching for walleye and perch, tullibees exist and can they come in in really big numbers.
When targeting ciscos I like to use baits that are flashy and attract fish. Ciscos have good eye sight and are very visually feeders so baits that are more aggressive tend to produce more fish.
I like baits like the VMC Tumbler Spoon in perch color or baits like Northland’s Buckshot spoon in UV pink or UV Green. You can tip those baits with either wax worms or a minnow head. If you downsize you’re minnow head so they can fit that in there mouth your hookup percentage on is going to be much much better.
When it comes to working your bait I like to work it a few feet off the bottom so they can see it from a distance.
They also like it when the bait continues to move. They really like the bounce and fall action and a lot of times will hit your bait on the fall.
Don’t be afraid to work the bait up and down. They have a tendency to chase and yo-yo up and down after your bait.
Ciscos are a fish that no one’s really targeting and they are an endless amount of fun. They are easy to find and all over the place. They’re electric they fight and ciscos are just a fun species to fish on the ice.
