Ling (Burbot)
Howdy all!
Just curious if anyone out there has fished for fresh-water lingcod (on purpose) and what sort of technique is involved. I remember catching them in the Red River as a kid, but that was a long time ago ;)
Many of the lakes we fish during the Summer have a "healthy" population of Lingcod, and I was thinking about targetting them this year. Any ideas, help, info? What do they taste like? Is it worth it?
I know that some of these questions are kind of generic....I'm just curious, that's all!
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They taste great! A couple years back I used to fish them alot on the Okanagan lake. During the summer I found most fish were caught in 100 ft. + of water. I always used bait ie., worms, and a jig (much like fishing for bottomfish in the chuck), and found that shallower flats with deep drop-offs were the best place to fish them. The biggest one I caught was 10 lbs. I think half of that was head. They really don't fight at all, but if you like eating white fleshed fish, they're great.

MaCaroon, I fished the mouth of the Adams river a long time ago in October, we were fly fishing for trout and caught quite a few burbot.You have to take a look at the regs now to make sure there is still a fishery open for them.

Mac,
We used to catch burbut fishing for walleye through the ice back in Sakatchewan. I don't know if it was a myth or fact but the rumour was that the meat was good but sometimes it had parasites(worms)..you had to be careful. And yeah, they fight like crap and are ugly as hell. I wouldn't wast your time.

I lived in the Okanagan over 10 years ago. Once, I scuba-dived the Okanagan Lake at Rattle-Snake Island (south side drop-off). We took our limit of Burbot, with a pneumatic gun, within minutes at the bottom of this drop-off where it meets a gradual-deepening sandy bottom. Here, at more than 90 feet and a quick search, we found an anchor, a few big-flashy fishing lures, and numerous burbot. One fish freaked me out; it directly approached me from deeper water and when it saw I was too big to eat, it just stopped and layed-down on the sand. I believe it responded to the activity-waves sent out by our commotion or flash of our knives.

Let me side-track with an experience that I won't forget:
On a later date, we tried our success a second time. At the same location, my partner got so caught-up in his fish watch that he ran-out of air. Before I could react, he rushed to the surface in a cloud of bubbles. When I reached him, he was delirious and screaming that he had the bends. I brought him to shore where our friends with the boat rushed him to hospital where they only discovered bubbles under his skin. He was trained well and constantly exhaled during his ascent with saved him. That experience was too traumatic for me, so it was the last time I scuba-dove.

On Okanagan Lake, you can also target these fish without a boat at the mouth of Bear Creek under the log booms (mainly in winter). You should be using large-bright-flashing jigs with enough weight to bounce the bottom in very deep depths. Good luck - they a different fishing experience .

Well, in the saltchuck, they actually can give up a pretty good fight. Reeled in a 20lber with 12lb line last year, it ran, and have had others run now and then. Not sure how it is in freshwater, but their meat in saltwater is great! Especially on the BBQ!

Any lakes around fraser valley that have burbot?

Whonnock Lake


I suppose burbot would probably taste like Lake Trout, since Lakers also have white flesh (very flaky and very tasty!) so I guess I'll hang on to one if I hook one. I think as kids, we used to bush them along with the catfish and suckers! That was a long time ago!
Chris, I too have caught Ling in the chuck but I don't think the freshwater variety could taste anything like those!
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Yeah probably true. Whonnock Lake eh? Interesting.
Lake Trout is a white salmonid. Kind of like white springs vs. red springs. Hatchery rainbows vs. wild bows, etc. Maybe similiar in taste, but Lingcod are more along the lines of Halibut, Rockfish, (e.g Red Snapper), than trout/char/salmon. Lings have an oily texture to them, and I find salmon are more flaky. But I have never tried Burbot, so I may well be wrong!

Burbot taste nothing like Saltwater ling. I have caught them in Okanagan, Stuart, Trembleur and Carp. They are not near as good. They are OK and best used for Fish and Chips. Burbs need to be filleted and they have a huge head.
The best is to use a buzz bomb or something like that, baited with Chicken livers. The last time I caught or ate one was probably 20 years and don't take them too seriously. But it might be fun for kids to catch them.

Bert

I've never seen Ogopogo in Okanagan Lake. Even though I laugh at the history of this "imaginary monster", I have to admit the thought of it entering my mind when I was deep-down there. Maybe that's why I freaked when the Burbot, that curiously approached and surprised me, entered the picture.

Burbot are dull fighters; they are very lethargic. In fact, when these fish are laying-down (YES, JUST LIKE A PET ON THE FLOOR) divers can get extremely close to them. Be aware, vision is altered at deep depths; fish will look 3-times as large as they really are.

They definitely don't taste like lakers either. I personally don't like the taste of big lakers all that much. One lake where I have had lakers that I like was at Babine. Most under 5 lbs. had pinkish meat, (all those salmon smolts) and they were great. True burbot isn't as good as ling in the chuck, the taste great as fish and chips. Oh yeah, and lings have a really distinct smell to them. If you've caught one you know.

Flin Flon, Manitoba, used to have a derby for Ling every April,(Not sure if they still have it). This derby was to both try and reduce the numbers of Ling to help protect the Lake Trout fry, and to promote the fish as a target species. It was a strictly catch and keep derby, and many fish caught usually went into a huge cook out. As a sponser was A&W restaurants, they fried the meat up using the onion ring coating. Absolutely delicious. The largest fish each year was pushing 20 lbs.

In April, in Flin Flon, there is still +3' of ice so fishing is through a hole, best from a hut full of beer. They were caught by leaving a bunch of minnows right on the bottom, (all dead as live bait is illegal in northern Manitoba), and the big ones usually caught at night. Many people swear that if you cut the meat into chunks and fry it up, it can be a lobster substitute, (drowned in butter, I guess).

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