Hulun Lake supports one of China's largest inland freshwater fisheries, producing several thousand tonnes of carp, pike, perch, and crucian carp annually. Commercial fishing boats work the lake year-round, including through the thick winter ice using nets dropped through holes cut in the surface. The winter ice fishing (冬捕, dongbu) — a spectacular practice in which large seine nets are drawn under the ice by horses and then hauled up through a single cutting hole — is conducted in January and February and attracts tourists from across Inner Mongolia. Watching a net containing thousands of fish hauled out of a hole cut in a frozen lake is an unlikely but impressive spectacle.
In summer, small motorboats and traditional wooden vessels are available for hire from the southern shore for fishing excursions and general lake exploration. The local carp and perch are served at restaurants near the lakeshore, cooked simply in broth or grilled over coals; the freshwater fish from Hulun Lake is a regional specialty that appears on every menu in Manzhouli. Day fishing trips from the yurt camps near the southern shore are popular; the catches are modest but the setting is exceptional.