eelpout (burbot/lawyer) eating

[bglaeser]

I noticed that today's issue of Wisconsin Outdoor News (Jan 23) on page 33 has an article on preparing eelpout... also called burbot or lawyer. I believe this is considered a rough-fish...and therefore legal to spearfish.... but unlike most rough fish which most people distain eating, eelpout is considered quite delicious... they refer to it as freshwater cod.

Filleting and preparing it also sound easy.

Although the article is (of course) written with anglers in mind... anyone have suggestions as to where to go to spear them? The article says they need deep, cold water. Anyone spear one yet?

Brian

 

[Erik]

I shoot them up here in Canada. In the day they go into cooler water to sleep, usually. Get under the thermocline and just start searching, they'll be lying on the bottom camoflaged. Up here that means 25' or deeper. Not hard to shoot, just hard to find. They tend to be very twitchy even after you've brained them.
In the dusk or dawn, they come into shallower water to hunt perch etc. It's common to clean them and find whole fish inside them.
Excellent eating, fried in batter in smaller chunks.

 

[Whopperhead]

It's also called "poor man's lobster"- I know they are in Lake Michigan and in lakes A little bit more north. If I ever do see one, I am shooting it.

 

[Fondueset]

Heres a few - mostly around 50'

 

[Erik]

Here are some that I ate promptly!

 

[Fondueset]

You look pretty serious about those burbots!
One of them is huge!

 

[Erik]

Bad pic, usually I'm smiling haha. Yes that was an interesting day. Could have got more but that was enough. The big one was nearly my biggest ever. One of the smaller ones was shot midwater! 3 of them were swimming together when I was on the way up from a recon on the bottom; I picked the biggest of the 3 and the other 2 swam off. I know in Winter- under ice, they get into big balls of many burbot while breeding, but I'm not sure why 3 were together, not sleeeping during the day in the Summer.

 

[Fondueset]

The one in the middle above is the biggest I've seen. I think the water was around 3c and around 15m deep. Obviously well-fed. I don't see them often because they run deep around here - and most of the year deep is in serious recreational boating territory.

You've got awesome spearfishing laws!

 

[Erik]

My province sucks actually, but burbot limit is 10/day for spearos! Anglers don't like them and usually throw them back. Fine with me.

 

[Jon]

There all over the deeper shipwrecks around here- in Lake Michigan. Sometimes they will pile on top of each other and snuggle in like a litter of kittens. You'll find them hiding in the wildest places on a shipwreck.

My brother-in-law used to be a commercial fisherman out there and would snag a couple in the nets every once in a while. He's given me a few of them to eat and they were pretty tasty.

Jon

 

[fleshy]

Its not legal to spear on shipwrecks is it? I thought I heard something about that on here. At any rate, Ive never seen one, but would love to spear and eat one as well. Thats a big part of the motivation for the guys around here to do a superior trip sometime.

 

[Jon]

You can spear anything on a shipwreck that you can spear anywhere else in the lake.

A couple of my friends were diving on some wreck in 200' of water and ended duct taping their dive knives to some short sticks to spear burbot down there. Since spearing on scuba is legal in our state they were well within their rights to do so.

It just seemed a little bit overboard to spear a fish with a knife while wearing a half dozen scuba tanks filled with a variety of gasses. :head

If you go out on a charter boat the captain may not want you spearing off of their boat, but don't let them tell you it's illegal.

Jon