My experience catching a couple of ciscoes in Lake Ontario raised a lot of questions for me: Why are they around now? What was the deal before? Where are they found in Lake Ontario? I made a call to the Cape Vincent DEC Field Station and talked to one of the biologists. He told me that ciscoes made somewhat of a comeback in 2016. They've always been around. Spawning typically takes place around Cape Vincent and the Bay Of Quinte, although in recent years, they've been found spawning around Sodus and Little Sodus Bays. As for Lake Whitefish in Lake Ontario, they are mainly confined to the eastern portion of the lake. Canada still permits commercial netting for whitefish. To me, why not leave them alone for a while until the stocks rebuild? Most anglers I know that fish Lake Ontario have never seen nor caught a whitefish. I asked him about burbot and he said in his entire career working on Lake Ontario, he's only handled two of them. They are quite rare in Lake Ontario.
The whitefish can be seen feeding on midge larvae in the spring - I believe on the surface in the eastern portion of Lake Ontario. Nearly all of the Finger Lakes had cisco populations around the turn of the last century (1900s) with the likely exception of Honeoye, Conesus and Hemlock. Whitefish were also stocked in some of the Finger Lakes. In Keuka Lake, a couple of big whitefish were caught in the early 1980s. They're gone now. DEC has reintroduced ciscoes without much success thus far in Keuka Lake. Canandaigua Lake also had whitefish for awhile. I believe most whitefish in the Finger Lakes were stocked by DEC in the late-1800s or early-1900s. Ciscoes were so abundant in Owasco Lake in the 1940s and early-1950s that anglers would fly-fish for them. There was also an annual cisco derby held there around that timeframe. Ciscoes went extinct in Seneca Lake in the 1980s. There are still some in Skaneateles Lake, but their numbers are dwindling and the walleyes will probably wipe them out completely at some point. Whitefish and ciscoes evolved in low-diversity fisheries and they typically do not thrive when alewives and smelt are present in large numbers.
Tonight I dipped my cisco fillets in an egg-wash and then rolled them in a mix of flour and Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. I fried them lightly in some olive oil and butter. They were some of the best fish I've ever eaten! Anyone who likes fish would enjoy ciscoes. Just remember that they don't freeze well and you'll want to get them right on ice as soon as possible.