Burbot

Can anyone tell me anything at all about catching Burbot? I know nothing about them other than the fact that they catch some in Presque isle. Hopefully theyre still biting!!

Havent fished for em in years. What i can remember is now is the time. Fish meatballs* on the bottom, in the deepest water of the bay. Hope this helps.
 
BH
 
* Meatballs= Big hunks of cut bait, bunch of minnows, wad snot of crawlers

someone tell me the truth, do you have to "know how to cook it"  to be edible ?
 
I understand it's related to the cod family, but sump'um tells it doesn't taste near as good
 
.L.T.A.

Thanks. Gunna give it a go thus weekend

Burbot good eats.. 
 

Kokanee Killer
Burbot good eats.. 
 

I'd like to try one, they're a member of the Cod family after all. But, I'm more interested in just fighting one or two of the slimy eelpout. Got skunked last December fishing the 80% frozen channel.

  I fish closer to the new year. That's maybe because it is a break between hunting and ice fishing. Like someone else said use couple minnies on each hook. Can also use cut bait, chunks of shad work. My son and I went up last year around new years eve and caught three total. One other group caught some. Most left before bite which started around 9:00. I was reeling in a mud puppy and had a fish take it fought it to wall and fella put light on it. It was a big eye I would guess 8-10 lbs. It took a run and let go as it was never hooked only holding on to that mud puppy. I threw shad rap for half hour with no results.
  It is something to do in a tween season. As you lay your rod down on the peer stay alert they usually bite very soft but the odd one runs. We have sprinted for our rods many times, and I bent the bail on a penn last year as I grabbed it just before it went over the wall.
  They are about as ugly a fish as I have ever seen. They remind me of a giant tadpole with whiskers. They are also slimy and they smell. I eat them but only eat the loins to the tail, as I never break the belly when filleting. I feel the same way about eating them as I do groundhogs. I clean-dress them both then cook them and everyone raves about how good it is. While every fork full I can detect the faint odor of the critter on my hand at the other end of the fork.
I smile and agree, yea real good ya all keep eating I-We do not want any leftovers.

I like to bring one home every year , skin fillet remove mud line boil pan of water add 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup salt , add 1 inch fish chunks to boiling water and stir occasionally till the chunks float , remove and melt butter and lemon over them , or also after boiling chunks broil with butter and lemon till start to brown , then melted butter lemon enjoy.  

dont remember who it was but a older post on this subject like over 10 yrs ago was very informitave think it was guru or somebody

mcmillan09 is right on with the long landing net. Also bring light-s, headlamp helpful, and I like having a lantern. If a coleman do not bump monofilament on it.

treesparrow
mcmillan09 is right on with the long landing net. Also bring light-s, headlamp helpful, and I like having a lantern. If a coleman do not bump monofilament on it.

Here are some "tricks" that I have learned, more surf fishing in the ocean and cat fishing at night.  From hearing how people burpit fish, it seems similar, but colder.
 
Glow sticks from the dollar store or Target, ect. work great for bait fishing at night.  Get a glow stick activated and glowing and two rubber bands (thinner rubber bands work best).  Put the stick at the top of your rod, right below your top eyelet.  Put one end of rubber band on the end of the glow stick, then wrap around the glow stick & rod until kind of tight.  Then put other end of rubber band on that same end of the glow stick.  That end should be nice and secured to your rod tip.  Do the same at the other end of the glow stick.  They are flexible, and will be just fine casting.  You will be able to see bites without needing the entire area lit up.  Some colors work better than others.  We have rods set up 20 yards away on the beach with these, while surf fishing, and able to spot bites.
 
I also found some LED flashing lights at the auto part store.  They were made to go on your inflation stems of your tires.  There is some sort of mercury or other motion switch in them.  When triggered, they would flash like a strobe light.  They worked great for night fishing too.  I used some of those plastic "raft" inflation needles that you put on your air compressor, that are threaded for a hand pump on one end and pointed on the other, to go into an air raft.  They have a split circle on the side, to clip onto your pump hose.  That split circle fits well about 6" down on a surf rod.  You can't cast with those on, and if you set the hook too hard, you can send them flying.  Glow sticks are much more economical, if you don't night fish a lot.  For those that fish a lot, they'd likely be cheaper and less waste, than going through 100 glow sticks.
 
If your net handle is not long enough, make your own "pier net".  Or buy one of these in the video.  To easily make your own, just tie 3-4 lines to your current handled net, and join at a center point (as shown on video) that you can lower down.  I made one out of electrical conduit and a replacement net before.  Electrical conduit is not the best for saltwater though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1tHX8XHG4c
 
If I recall from the past, East End Angler, seems to report burpit catches and I think has some pointers on their site.  Someone put a report on here a while back.  I would imagine they carry the gear needed, and know how much lead you'll need to hold bottom.  Might have some pretied rigs and other stuff to help you out.
 
 

fisherofmen376
In summary:
its gonna be cold, dark, windy, they smell bad, don't fight very hard, you don't get a whole lot of them, they remind you of eating groundhog... SOUNDS GREAT BOYS GO GET EM!!!!

More enticing than Walleye or Perch fishing.

Bout 7 years back went on Dec.31 st got there at 1pm and before I had my second rod baited up I saw my first rod bending over pretty far, picked it up and ended up landing close to 20# er. in the middle of the day. you never know when they are there till you try.

Did anyone find their way to the south pier for some Eelpaht this month? Was going to make my trip up this weekend but 63" of snow and a potentially frozen/iceberg infested channel say otherwise.