Burbot

azn_rice_man · #1 10-02-2011, 07:50 AM

This might seem odd, but anyone has tips on catching burbot? Not sure if it's considered a game fish, but I heard they put up a good fight, not to mention, their reputation as "pooman's lobster."

Any insight would be appreciated.

bloopbloob · #2 10-02-2011, 08:57 AM

I am also wanting to catch a burbot. It's been probably ten years since I caught one, and it was by accident. All I remember is that they are hideous, and it scared me as a kid. But I'd like to catch them again, and maybe figure out how to fillet them, because I heard they taste great.

From what I've gathered, they are night feeders, a chunk of stinky bait on the bottom to catch them. Just haven't tried yet....

Guitarplayingfish · #3 10-02-2011, 09:19 AM

night feeders indeed, to clean em you can nail their head to a tree and pull off their skin like a tube sock! haha than fillet.

boroumand8 · #4 10-02-2011, 09:21 AM

Try using spinners on the red deer river west of red deer

whitetail Junkie · #5 10-02-2011, 09:25 AM

I aint no POOman,but I love eating burbot.....

bloopbloob · #6 10-02-2011, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guitarplayingfish

night feeders indeed, to clean em you can nail their head to a tree and pull off their skin like a tube sock! haha than fillet.

I've heard of this method before... how hard are they to fillet after you skin them? lots of bones? are they a fatty fish?

C Taylor · #7 10-02-2011, 11:31 AM

Just a tube of meat along the back and then some on the tail very little meat for their size. As for pulling the skin off if you do that in feb/march it could get real messy

mayuan · #8 10-02-2011, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guitarplayingfish

night feeders indeed, to clean em you can nail their head to a tree and pull off their skin like a tube sock! haha than fillet.

I love it!!! The best part is, that is exactly how you clean them...

ladyjig · #9 10-02-2011, 12:13 PM

try a jig with minnow and look for deep holes, like 20ft or so. they like to bite in the evening, like someone said night feeders. I seem to catch them more when icefishing. look on youtube, many how too video on filleting them. hope this helps.

Lefty-Canuck · #10 10-02-2011, 12:36 PM

Burbut are mostly guts...they have a huge liver...but the meat is quite tasty.

Bloopbloob I know a place where I used to catch lots of burbot years ago and my Dad once caught one that would not fit through a 6 inch hole....we had to puush it back down it was so fat....you and I were talking earlier about getting together for a fishing day so maybe we can head there its within a 45 mins drive of Edmonton.

The lake has mostly pike and burbot so let me know if you want to head out once the ice is in.

LC

bloopbloob · #11 10-02-2011, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck

Burbut are mostly guts...they have a huge liver...but the meat is quite tasty.

Bloopbloob I know a place where I used to catch lots of burbot years ago and my Dad once caught one that would not fit through a 6 inch hole....we had to puush it back down it was so fat....you and I were talking earlier about getting together for a fishing day so maybe we can head there its within a 45 mins drive of Edmonton.

The lake has mostly pike and burbot so let me know if you want to head out once the ice is in.

LC

I will definitely take you up on that offer. Would be good to meet AND catch a big fat burbot!

aulrich · #12 10-03-2011, 07:40 AM

One thing that has not come up is that they are mostly a night bite .

We target them on pcr through the ice , glow jig, glow tube and a minnow/smelt, depending on regs.

They are fun to catch, have not taken any to eat yet.

chubbdarter · #13 10-03-2011, 04:39 PM

As the water cools they begin to move in shallow....when ice just begins to form they can be stacked on rocky points, they even hit cranks we toss for eyes. Some years if the ice hasnt formed on 2 particular lakes before Dec 1st it crazy how many ling are on these two dams...your hint is Dec 1st...dont want the ling guys mad at me

Gust · #14 10-03-2011, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lefty-Canuck

Burbut are mostly guts...they have a huge liver...but the meat is quite tasty.

Bloopbloob I know a place where I used to catch lots of burbot years ago and my Dad once caught one that would not fit through a 6 inch hole....we had to puush it back down it was so fat....you and I were talking earlier about getting together for a fishing day so maybe we can head there its within a 45 mins drive of Edmonton.

The lake has mostly pike and burbot so let me know if you want to head out once the ice is in.

LC

The liver is fantastic fried with a little salt and pepper then eaten on toast. As for filleting, you don't have too as the meat separates from the bone much like a good cooked trout. In my opinion, you barely need to enhance burbs as they are a truly flavourful fish but don't freeze well, best caught and cooked within days of catching. Since there is more of an interest in them now, I'm not seeing the larger class burbs as years ago when they were tossed on shore for the birds. I think Hunter Dave is right about suckers, just need more people saying yum and they'll get their day in the regs with a limit. Love Burb meat,, their limit should be lowered to 3 or 5 max but 10 is a lot of meat even with the smaller ones.

Jwood 456 · #15 10-03-2011, 07:09 PM

I have only fished burbot in the winter. I have caught them on weight forward spinners with a minnow hooked horizontally through the back. Just lift the spinner up relatively slow 6'' then drop it back down 6''. And jig it like that for at least 20 secs, then Pause the spinner for 4 or 5 secs then jig it again. When or if you see a burbot come in, pause the spinner, and twitch it very lightly every here and then. Usually, the burbot will strike right after I twitch the hook.

Gust · #16 10-03-2011, 07:39 PM

Burbs taste bitter during their spawn which I think is March, maybe someone can give the burb spawn calendar.

BeeGuy · #17 10-03-2011, 09:53 PM

I'd be interested in hitting a burb spot local to Calgary if anyone is interested in a night fish. It's almost dark at 730 now, so it would have to be a suuuuper late night affair.

Maybe Ghost Res?

Anyone know how big the burbs get in there?

Another question:

Are burbs often marked on sonar????

Crossfire · #18 10-03-2011, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azn_rice_man

This might seem odd, but anyone has tips on catching burbot? Not sure if it's considered a game fish, but I heard they put up a good fight, not to mention, their reputation as "pooman's lobster."

Any insight would be appreciated.

Burbot is considered a game fish and there is limits on the special the fight is more of a steady pull then anything but they are fun to catch in the winter when jigging.

Guitarplayingfish · #19 10-03-2011, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azn_rice_man

This might seem odd, but anyone has tips on catching burbot? Not sure if it's considered a game fish, but I heard they put up a good fight, not to mention, their reputation as "pooman's lobster."

Any insight would be appreciated.

"pooman's lobster." hahahaha I just wanted to point that out .

Isopod · #20 10-04-2011, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crossfire

Burbot is considered a game fish and there is limits on the special the fight is more of a steady pull then anything but they are fun to catch in the winter when jigging.

I agree, definitely mostly just a steady pull. I also find that they often take bait quite deep and their throat closes up like the planet Uranus... not a problem if a person plans to keep them but can make them difficult to release cleanly if just fishing them for fun.

Lefty-Canuck · #21 10-04-2011, 07:31 AM

The oddest thing about burbot being a game fish is.....there is a limit of 10...BUT if you don't want to keep them you can just catch em and leave them on the ice to spoil......how crazy is that?

LC

Gust · #22 10-04-2011, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

I'd be interested in hitting a burb spot local to Calgary if anyone is interested in a night fish. It's almost dark at 730 now, so it would have to be a suuuuper late night affair.

Maybe Ghost Res?

Anyone know how big the burbs get in there?

Another question:

Are burbs often marked on sonar????

Go to the glenmore reservoir and fish with a clump of worms no more than 10 inches off the bottom. The rez burbs are spectacular in taste and are more of the green markings. I think they are beautiful looking, so unique, specially when you try to pick them up and the coil round. Jacenbeers is pretty good at lip jigging them and letting em go,, as I'd prefer let more go than have to deal with throaters which is tough when using bait. I don't get the waste thing in the regs,,, wasn't sun looking into that a while back? In ghost lake don't cast far (50 feet out) and fish by the bridge.

Gust · #23 10-05-2011, 08:21 PM

Hey BeeGuy did you try for burbs?

BeeGuy · #24 10-05-2011, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GustavMahler

Hey BeeGuy did you try for burbs?

Ya I tried one night in July, floated around the bridge with dew worms and smelts. Fished till 2am.

Caught nothing.

Never caught anything there for along time, until a couple weeks ago when I got into the RMW's pretty heavy, but they are long gone now.

I'd be willing to go again and fish from shore in a couple weeks from now.

jacenbeers · #25 10-05-2011, 11:02 PM

Most people have been talking about lakes but I find that before ice is on, burbot are pretty easy to catch at night in rivers that allow bait as well. Even canals. Last Summer I had still never caught a burbot in my life and then last winter I caught lots through the ice. This Spring and Summer are started catching them at night in canals and in rivers. I just have a three way swivel with my line tied to one eye, a 3 foot leader to a snelled bait hook off another eye and the last eye has a weight attached below a 1 foot leader. I use smelts are capelin for bait. The best one I caught this year was from the SSR at the Forks, but there were some other good ones from around Southern Alberta that I managed to find. Here is a pic of the SSR one. He was too big for my net and he rolled when I got him to shore so my line wrapped around him once or twice but I released him within 20 seconds of landing him and he was fine. He even got to have a free stinky smelt to eat.

jacenbeers · #26 10-05-2011, 11:05 PM

I also wanted to add that I am surprised people eat burbot out of pine coulee. They are all so small that there is hardly anything there to eat. Last winter they were biting like crazy early in the season and they were all about the size of the one in the picture below. The picture was taken at about 9 PM just off the boat launch in December.

BeeGuy · #27 10-05-2011, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacenbeers

I also wanted to add that I am surprised people eat burbot out of pine coulee. They are all so small that there is hardly anything there to eat. Last winter they were biting like crazy early in the season and they were all about the size of the one in the picture below. The picture was taken at about 9 PM just off the boat launch in December.

10 of those would make for a fine meal.

Man that first one is a beast!

Burbot are known to accumulate more Hg than other fish species, so it would be wise to keep the younger/smaller fish. Depending on the water body of course.

Jiffy10 · #28 10-06-2011, 07:59 AM

caught tons of Burbs. at Lac La Nonne ice fishing.
If you take Highway 651 right to the Lake you make a left turn
on Range Road 30 . Its only about 10 blocks till you drive right on
the lake from a boat launch. Head out on the ice to your right a bit
in the direction of about.... 1- 2 o'clock from the launch .
There are a few small island/grass clumps etc out there.
Never been skunked out there yet.

In the spring The Wood Narcs have a burbot trap set up out there
to count the Burbs before they spawn in that area. Talked to them
a 2 years ago and they said they check it every few days and will often
count 200 to 300 in their trap zone.
So..... this is a hot little burbot area.
Personally I dont keep them and would rather cut the line before having
to handle them..... they're just not for me. A friend of mine says Burbot
are evidence the Pike "^#@" " snakes !! I think he's right .

We go there for the Pike but will catch just as many Burbs there
also. We use a Jig and a Minnow in the Ice Hut.
Tip up with a bigger Smelt/ type of set up.

Last year had something big on that took my rod and reel down the
hole before I could get to it. My fault... I didnt have it sitting in the
holder properly....

Can hardly wait for Hard Water......

hope to see you out there.....