Burbot help?

[RadSav]

If you are used to jigging for salt water bottom fish or crappy you might want to slow it way down for burbot.  A bit more like walleye speed has produced my best results.  If plunking I like to use a large corky to make sure a big mess of night crawlers rises two to three feet off the bottom. 

In my opinion there is nothing as good as fresh saltwater ling, but burbot ain't too bad at all when the water is good and cold.

[FC]

In my opinion there is nothing as good as fresh saltwater ling

No argument here, does burbot have any of that "ling" flavor to it? I actually like the taste of the bigger lings myself as they seem to have the strongest "ling" flavor.

[RadSav]

It has been a long time so I'm stretching a little with my memory.  I know that the warm water buggers go right back in the lake - nasty!  The good cold water ones I took in BC did have good oil and a bit of that ling flavor, but the texture was not nearly as firm.

[RadSav]

FC - What do you mean by "Bigger Lings"?  90+% of those over 35# are going to be females.  We encourage all clients to return Lings caught over 40# as these are the reef breeders.  Their texture is usually not as good for eating.  And, most important - they lay thousands of eggs per year.  Majority of saltwater bottom fish live long lives.  A big yellow eye will be 15 years old or more.  If the air bladders have not expanded beyond repair send these old breeders back to the bottom.  Carry an insulin needle with you to release enough air they can swim back down on their own.  In five or six years you will be glad you did.

Us old Depoe Bay, Oregon charter skippers wish we had started doing it earlier.  And, ran the shallow water Dory commercial guys out of there much, much earlier.  We'd still have our boats and careers had we done so.

[FC]

FC - What do you mean by "Bigger Lings"? 

Up around 25-35 lbs or so, I can't swear that I've eaten any bigger than that. Last I knew everything over about 15 lbs or so was female.

[Mossy]

not a snake head, HUGE differnce!!!! a bubot is a sort of ling, and a snake head is a non native fish that absolutly devistates our ecosystems here is a like so people can see the difference in looks and such..
http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/uwexlakes/cbcw/Pubs/catchsnakehead_FH-715.pdf

I know the difference...just my opinion on the looks.  Ugly things

[RadSav]

Only a few months per year those big lings are in the shallows.  They come in lay their eggs and go back out.  We used to get quite a few over 45# on the deeper end of Newport's "Rock Pile" and "Heceta Banks" (Big butt grounds).  So I figured you meant around 25# when you said you like eating the big ones. Just wanted to make sure.

The cold water Burbot fight very much the same as a ling of the same size.  You will know right off the bat what you have on.  No walleye on earth fights that well once you pull him off the bottom.  You will have to catch a few.  A lot of fun to get them from the lake bottom to the fry pan.

[RadSav]

quadrafire - invest in a fish finder.  Even a cheap portable will increase your chances finding fish at that depth.  Burbot do not show up well since they have a very small bladder, but you will not waste your time fishing the sandy wastelands.  Look for a cloud of bait fish in a boulder garden and go from there.  Good luck.

[bearpaw]

To really catch burbot we would go fishing for peemouth (scrapfish) in the Columbia, about half the peemouth had tapeworm, you could lay them on a rock, stomp on them and the tapeworm would squirt out. That was the best bait I ever saw for burbot.

How on earth, did you ever figure that out Now that is hard core bait gathering.

Hardly anyone fishing when I was there. Another boat came up to us wondering if we had any ideas. So not alot of knowlege on the water that day. My daughter was with me, and she doesn't like to jig for very long. I have heard the night was best, but we were sitting by the fire at our campsite

We tried everything imaginable, but for burbot in the Columbia those tapeworms were the best. 
I haven't fished for Burbot for quite a few years but the walleye have probably reduced their numbers greatly, it's hard to find a sucker anymore and I can remember catching 50-100 suckers per day before the walleye were released. One other thing I should mention, my favorite evening Ling hole on the Columbia had a sandy bottom and it seems that Ling fishing was best in March-April-May, it really slowed down in June on the Columbia where we fished.

One time I caught a really big burbot in Kootenay on a big plug on leaded line that we were trolling deep for dollies and Kamloops. For jigging burbot in Kootenay we used a 3 sided heavy silver jig about 5 to 7 inches long with a triple hook tipped with night crawlers, that worked good there. As someone else said, slow your jigging way down.

I have heard there are quite a few burbot in Sullivan, I need to try that someday.

[RadSav]

bearpaw - "my favorite evening Ling hole on the Columbia had a sandy bottom"  That is fascinating to me!  Did you happen to see what they were feeding on (stomach contents)?  I've heard they move into the sand at certain times of the year for clams but I thought that was a wives tail.  I guess not - way cool!

I had a boat load of guys (12 plus deckhand and myself) trolling for salmon off Gull Rock south of Depoe Bay (probably '86).  In 12 fathoms every rod went down at the same time.  Three lings and the rest black rock.  The Ross went totally black from surface to bottom.  Biggest ball of bait I've ever seen.  Never pulled a Ling trolling in more than 8 fathoms before then or after.

Love that Koot & Dollies.

[bearpaw]

bearpaw - "my favorite evening Ling hole on the Columbia had a sandy bottom"  That is fascinating to me!  Did you happen to see what they were feeding on (stomach contents)?  I've heard they move into the sand at certain times of the year for clams but I thought that was a wives tail.  I guess not - way cool!

I had a boat load of guys (12 plus deckhand and myself) trolling for salmon off Gull Rock south of Depoe Bay (probably '86).  In 12 fathoms every rod went down at the same time.  Three lings and the rest black rock.  The Ross went totally black from surface to bottom.  Biggest ball of bait I've ever seen.  Never pulled a Ling trolling in more than 8 fathoms before then or after.

Love that Koot & Dollies.

Keep in mind these are freshwater burbot, not real ling like you have in the ocean so they may likely have different preferences. Their were both skulpins and freshwater clams in that area, so maybe that is what they were targetting? It was important to fish for them in the evening, we never caught them much in the morning or afternoon.

When my dad was growing up they used to go down on the river at night in the shallows with a lantern on the bow, they would spear burbot that came up to the light. I never got to do that, but he has told me numerous times about boat loads of fish they would spear and he still has my grandfathers old fish spear.

[quadrafire]

Where I grew up we called that "Gigging". Lots of fun!!!!

[RadSav]

Never caught Burbot in shallow water.  Though never really tried that hard.  I find a good number of skulpin in their bellies.  That must be it.  I'll be driving through Cranbrook in a few weeks.  I'll have to ask my old guide friends about sandy bottom Burbot fishing.  They've forgotten more than I'll ever know about fresh water ling.

[RadSav]

Just heard from one of my old BC guide buddies.  Guess kokanee and DV reds in sand and fine gravel all up the Koot and St Marys are holding Burbot up to 15#.  Guess it is becoming a HUGE problem with hatchling survival as they are extremely aggressive feeders in the shallow rivers.  Adding to the problem is that most of these areas are now fly fishing only which weeds out very few of the Burbot.  "Come kill 'em all!", he says.

He thinks your sandy bottom experience must be some sort of red/hatchling area too.  Says he has never pulled a clam from ones stomach.  Where they can still use bait he prefers strips of sucker meat on a jig head fished agonizingly slow in cold weather and with a bit more flip as things warm up.  He no longer guides, but I've asked if I can give out his contact information.  If he agrees I'll post it.

[andrewtc]

Herring strips, nightcrawlers, minnows (usually frozen) on heavy jigheads have always worked for me. Anyway, for anyone that wants to try burbot for their first time, found a complete post on burbot fishing (tackle, baits, lures, best fishing conditions and others), here: http://hummingbirdfishfinderreviews.com/how-to-catch-burbot-burbot-tackle