Tulibee cleaning and eating.

I did this a couple of years ago, and figured with the Whitefish on the upswing on Mille Lacs and other Central and Northern MN lakes, now was the time to do this again. Tulibee are very mild tasting compared to how fishy they smell coming through the hole! Most people can’t get them out of their fish house fast enough! But they are a fantastic eating fish! Smoked, steamed or pickled, you can’t go wrong! The meat is very rich, so this species is not a good candidate for frying, but steamed…this fish is a breakfast to remember!
The whitefish has “Y” bones similar to a pike, and they need to be removed before steaming. Smoking and pickling, removing these bones is not required. But removing them leaves you with a flawless fillet of rich meat. As you can see, I take the fillets off, and scoop the rib bones out. Then using your finger, you can feel where the “Y” bones are and you make a cut from the top down, following the row of bones. I use a fillet knife for this job and my electric for everything else. Be careful not to cut through the skin when doing this. After the bones are removed, you can take the skin off. Then you are left with just meat. I use a Sunbeam Steamer and coat the fillets with Old Bay seasoning. Steam for 10 minutes and add a few eggs to the mix and you have a meal fit for a king! And I will bet you, that you will never throw back another tullibe again! Or you can call me to take them off your hands!!

Thanks for the info, Chris. Was on the pond last week and kept a couple nice Tulibee for the smoker. The meat looked good but I’ve never kept them before. I’m headed back to the pond next week and I’m sure we’ll catch more. The steaming recipe sure sounds good so I think I’ll try that next.

I’m also very surprised with the nice meat taste eventhough the fish is stinky.

Chris,

Got a recipie for smoking them. I was up on the pond over the weekend and we kept 6 for the smoker. Should have kept more!! They were thick on every flat we hit!

Tulibee are also called white fish. They are the cousin of the trout and are a cold water species. They by no means or strech of the imagination are a trash fish. As a matter of fact they are the most important forage base in the state.

unfortunately, being a cold water species they will be the first ones to parish in a 4 degree global warming temperature change. it took 50 years for the regular temperature to rise 4 degrees and propably less for it to do it again. Anybody like carp. They already have fish kills from hypoxia in many lakes because the disolved oxygen levels required for tulibee are so high.

Chris: I’ll agree they are great eating. But on Winnie a couple winters back we kept a bunch and when filleting that night they were loaded with worms. Well more like grubs. These were not the tiny things you see in the perch. Really turned off my appetite. The resort owner said that was common on Winnie.
Do you guys see this on the other big ponds?

I have seen it on Winnie, but not on Mille Lacs, If your fish does have them they are easy to see and you will know it straight away. Pretty much like perch and sunnies. You have the choice of chucking them, or picking them out with the tip of a fillet knife.

Other ponds? Vermilion has a lot of them too.

I hear people often mistake that fat part around their internal organs as worms.

The ones I saw were in the backstraps. Very yummy.

The whitefish where i live in are great to eat. We are getting alot of them right now We got 200 today. we boil them here with potato and onions Very Good That Way.