Targeted some burbot last night.

Great night. Biggest was 25".

Several double headers. One of the best eating fish going. Anyone ever smoked it?

I will be trying tomorrow regardless!

We call those ling.
Good eating out of cold water.
Never heard of anyone smoking ling here.

Looks like u got a laker too

What lake you fishing?

Nice. I heard once the meat goes bad quickly. Is that true?

Nice fish , never evolved much over time..

Called Cusk around here.

Your right ...best tasting fish ....firm white meat ,like a scallop

They have several names. Eelpout is another name for them.

If it tastes like crap you'll be the first to know lol


Into the brine tonight

Reminds me of a certain political party.

Bottom feeders, lurk in the depths, slimy, and didn't evolve

I don't think it goes bad fast, but it should never, under any circumstances be frozen.

Turns it mushy as heck

We got a few. Only after I caught the last one did I get the idea to smoke some haha

Fishing georgian bay.

So what type of fish are those classified as ? Or are they their own thing ?

I believe it's like a freshwater cod.

Ok pretty neat ! So how exactly do you go about targeting them ? Any specific baits or set up or is it you just kinda fish around till you find a pocket?

Lawyers , light beer batter and fry

those are sooooooo goooood

That's correct. Burbot are the only freshwater species of cod. They used to release burbot in pay lakes in Ohio. Occasionally I would here about someone catching a burbot in a river, usually near a pay lake. I've never caught one.

Keith

They look like a snakehead. I'd try a burbot if we had them here.
Sarge

This time of year they come up on shoals to spawn. They are considered a coarse fish here, so there are no limits.

People often carch 40 a night. We catch and release mostly. I have no interest in keeping that many.

They spend the rest of their days in 100 feet of water or more

as a cold water fish they are so flakey and delicate

you won't see them shipped as they don't freeze well but they are great fresh

The remains Make an excellent draw station.

There is something with their liver that mammal predators do not eat them ( 30% of body weight). So for a draw station or Boco jackpot not the best bait to use.

They are called Lush here and the number one fish I get asked for when my nets are catching. I only eat live ones, dead ones or froze are rubbery. I never had them smoked or dried, usually just boiled into chowder with a little butter. Folks here eat them frozen a lot. They also clean the intestines out and braid them attached to the head still and it's thrown in the soup there is a story they tell the kids while eating the head, they pick out the head bones that look like shapes of animals for the story.

Dont forget the liver, it's the best part, the eggs too if they have them.

They are excellent cut into small chunks and boil in 7-Up or Sprite. Then dip in a bowl of melted butter....poor man's lobster, and probably tastes better.

Ling poor man's lobster. Some great eating.

This is the best way IMO. I prefer a bit of crushed garlic in my butter.

Looks like what we call a bowfin/grinnel/willow bass/choupique (pronounced shoe pick)

Good when fresh out of the grease but once they cool it is like chewing cotton

Probably kin but definitely not the same

And these give birth to live young and are very protective of the fry, to the point of attacking if you get to close

Maybe similar, but bowfin love shallow weedy warm water, even in summer.

Burbot hang out below 100 feet most of the year, and like cool, cold, clear water

These are a different fish. Most folks herecall Bowfin "Dogfish". As for Hutchy's fish......they have as many names as Bowfin do. I have heard them called Ling, Loush, Lush, Lawyer, Poor man's Lobster, and of course the real name....Burbot. They are snot covered like a Northern Pike, slip, slide and wrap all over your arm when you unhook them, and are very edible. They are an under rated food fish here. I love eating them.

Burbot get big I've seen them up to 25bls

Don't know about smoking them but I would think they would be great.

The NH state record Cusk...caught a couple years ago

35 inch

12.8 lbs

well, we call them lawyer's here, they are great eating fish not much of a fighting fish, we freeze them in ice cream buckets covered in water, they freeze great that way, every bar used to server them in fish fry's.

Eel Pout is what we call them. Like a plague when ice fishing here at the Big Lake. I don’t know anyone who fishes them on purpose !

One species I've never caught or seen caught. We had them in the lake where our cottage was in Muskoka and my dad told us about catching them ice fishing but I never caught one.
I might have to change that this year.

I know some guys here who would rather be seen on a moped with a fat chick than be seen with a lawyer on the line.

We can have 6 cusk lines set...with a 24 hour check.

Just make sure you stick a big hemlock branch in your hole..

So that you can find it the next morning ...if you get a foot of snow

Outstanding!

Branches are a good tip for beaver traps also. No one wants to look for traps under 2 feet of snow

Great job, Osky. I've eaten 1000's of pounds. My wife and I developed a real fine rod-and-reel fishery on the Tanana River near Fairbanks, and caught burbot every month of the year. Best bait was red-backed voles or lampreys. We had no problem freezing them, just put the fillets through the food processor and make fish cakes out of them. Just as good as the fresh, unfrozen ones.

Jack

i think they are now protected on mille lacs aint they,new law?stupid.i kinda consider them a bonus on LOTW when walleye fishing,best boiled in 7up and butter.i do remember the days when you would see them sticking out of the snow all over,people would just leave them on the ice

I've tried them several times and wasn't impressed. There isn't that much edible meat on them and it's OK. I would take a walleye or a perch over them.

no not much edible meat,backstraps an tail meat,and if you clean them right you dont have to mess with the big belly full of guts,that gets messy.trapper7 did you ever have them boiled and in butter?just wondering cause ive had them deep fried and didnt care that much for them that way.poor mans lobster!

First time we tried them was deep fried. I didn't like them at all that way. They are better boiled and dipped in butter. Still prefer walleyes, perch, and wild caught salmon.

[qu

Are there any lakes in Minnesota with deep water ...like 100 feet Depths ?

not really that i know of,when we get em on LOTW we're usually in about 30-35 ft water,i guess when they are in deep water its relative to the lake your on,mille lacs seemed about same depth but thats about the deepest it gets out in no mans land(mud flats)

x2

There used to be a lot of them on MilleLacs lake, but you don't catch them like you used to years ago. In the winter we used to catch them in 15 feet or so sometimes.

Them deep cold water lakes ...make good tasting fish

Ive caught at least half my lifetime catch with burbot for bait so must be a regional thing. IDK

We call the Loche (LOSH)
we fish for them as soon as the rivers freeze at the mouth of creeks that connect to lakes. We mostly catch them in 2-6 feet of water. my best night of fishing was on a december evening in my early teens when i caught about 350 in about 4 hours from sun down (4pm) until around 8pm. They were still biting but my two sleds were full with the loche and about 80 coney. One lap around Aklavik and the fish were all distributed. 50" and 35 lbs would be considered a big loche here. I caught about 200 the next day again in a couple hours and gave the whole thing to my late uncle, that lived in the bush, to feed himself and his 3 dogs. I used to love fishing but now I dont do it nearly as much as i used to.

You are saying you catch 50 inch burbot??

Eel Pout when I lived in Mn. Mississippi River full of them. Great tasting fish. Just the back straps for me. Boiled Then salt pepper and butter. Tastes just like cod. Poor man’s Lobster.

48” is my personal best but there’s been bigger ones caught for sure.

I’ll text my buddy for a picture

Also called Lawers in my neck of the woods.

That's huge

Here's a 44" 28 pounder. I'll have to search pretty deep to find a picture of the one I caught but I know my dad has pictures somewhere.

There was an industry here trap netting them under the ice with fyke or hoop nets. The liver was the target.

Growing up, mink ranchers trapnetted them to feed the mink...

Grandad fried up burbot livers many times, love it, I thought it stunk up Grandmas kitchen. Those livers are full of oil.

Man, unreal!!

People catch them mostly for liver and eggs. Back meat and belly skin is also cooked.
My preferred bait is a whitefish stomach on a j hook. Tied tightly with some flagging tape for color and a rubber piece to prevent the bait from sliding off too easily. Used to bait 5 hooks before heading out to keep the bait fresh.

We've Been vertical night jigging with glow spoons tipped with smelt.

I've only ate the backstraps, and tail meat which is noteablely stronger flavored , boiled for one minute, then then criped up in on the oven broiler on tinfoil, and dipped in melted butter. It's awesome.

I tried it boiled in 7 up and butter dipped tonight.


It wasn't really like lobster, not as firm, etc, but it smelled bang on!

Was really good though for sure

We use homemade hooks as well. Similar to a spoon. Aluminum, brass, or antlers. Sheep and muskox horn works well for the loche too. Usually with a piece of pike belly skin, red felt and a rubber stopper to keep it all on.

Couple here made by JD Storr. My dad has an aluminum hook made by a late friend of his. It's carved to look like a beluga whale surfacing. Pretty much art work. I hated using that one. I was a
lways worried I would lose it.