Burbot fishing

[Jim111]

I don't know any other ice fishermen who actively persue these fish in VT. Not a whole lot of lakes here have them for one thing and for some reason, most anglers consider them "trash fish". I can't figure out why? This member of the cod family has firm, white flesh and is easily filleted. We cannot use "set lines" either in VT, like some states. I know when I lived in Alaska, this was a prized food fish. We caught them often in the lakes (and rivers even) up there and there were a LOT of others who sought them out. My favorite way to cook them (then and now) was to cut boneless pieces of the meat into scallop size chunks and batter and deep fry them just as you would scallops. With some homemade tartar sauce, they are hard to beat. The most common name for them in VT is "ling" by the way. They are easily caught after dark using cut bait set right on or near the bottom. -Jim

[icemantrav]

i dont know any lakes right around me with them otherwise i would fish them

[trfishin]

hey fellow anglers I just registered here and this site looks great. I live in wyoming. I ice fish on flaming gorge It's a huge lake with lots of fish in it. We mostly ice fish for Trophy lake trout here. My biggest is 40 inches and 26 pounds through the ice on 8 pound test. The only problem is that someone illegally planted ling burbot in the lake and they are exploding. My brother and I went out on sat. and we caught 16 ling in about 3 hours and lost and missing some to. They were 12 to 26 inches and they sure were fun to catch off of tip ups in the evening and at night.

[Jim111]

They'll get bigger, with the right food base! I've landed them up to 48 inches in Alaska! Average fish up there was 6-7 pounds usually. Out of clean water, they are excellent table fare! -Jim

[trfishin]

my best burbot out of the gorge so far is 26" but there have been some 31+ inches caught. The gorge is a clean clear cold water lake with tons of crawdads, smallmouth bass, suckers, and chubs. They have really been eating the crawdads and smallmouth bass so far. The game and fish have also been netting the burbot. The burbot have had crawdads, smallmouth bass, suckers, chubs, brown, rainbow, cutthroat and lake trout, kokninee salmon in them. Some of the ling have even been eating themselves, small ling inside other ling. Some samping lately have had lake trout mack and kokninee salmon eggs in them when they were caught on the spawning areas. I think that they are going to get huge in the near future. I'm hoping to get down there this sat night for some more burbot catchin fun. I'm working on building some more tip-ups. I'll talk to you later better get to bed I've got to work graveyards tonight.

[Jim111]

Good luck with those burbot. Take some photos to share, maybe?
-Jim

[icemantrav]

could you explain on how to make that homemade tip-up

[trfishin]

the tip ups I'm making look like the windlass tipups. Mine are taller and are made out of wood. they hold up better in the cold than the plastic ones do for me.

[montana_griz]

I love tasty ling! I haven't found a spot to fish for them in Colorado yet, but I used to fish for them up in Montana. I have to say that the best tasting ling I ever ate was when I simply gutted a ling, skinned it, and then cut it into 4 chunks. It tasted just like lobster I kid you not....try it with a little salt and butter. Delicious!

[Jim111]

In Alaska they called them "poor man's crab". I have heard of people eating them dunked in butter, much as you would lobster or crab. They are good, no matter how you look at it. I've seen people heave them on the ice like some trash fish, in VT though. Sad..... -Jim

[warshirt]

Montana griz If you find a place to catch ling in Colorado let me know. I have never heard of anyone catching one hear. After reading about Flaming gorge in Wyoming I am thinking of making a trip up thier. I am from Montana also and like Ling. I also am fond of smoked White fish.

[icemantrav]

whats the diff between a burbot and a bowfin??

[trfishin]

hey my brother and I just got back from flaming gorge and we caught 25 ling, 1 rainbow, 1 cutthroat, and 5 small macks. The ling were 10" to 22" inches long. no big ling to night but we sure had a great time ice fishing. We often had 2 tipups going at the same time. We lost at least 10 fish. Not bad for getting set up on the ice a 2:30pm and fishin until 8:00pm. good luck fishing.

[Slabs]

Icemantrav, there are Burbot (Lawyer cod )in michigan. They live in the great lakes and in vary deep inland lakes They are a cold water fish and live deep water in warm months. Come winter they go scater all over the lake. They spawn in late winter early spring. This is a good time to catch them, they will group up . Usually in shallow water sometimes in rivers. A dogfish or bowfin is a warm water fish that is no good for eating.

[icemantrav]

in the burbot forum somebody said dogfish are burbot??