First Burbot Catch-and-Cook (try it!)

This past week I had the opportunity to fish for Burbot in northern MN in the Leech Lake area. These fish don’t live in the lakes near my house so it was my first time targeting the species.

We ended up catching 2 Burbot one evening, both around 8-10pm well after sunset. Jigging heavy glow spoons with multiple minnows. Pounding the bottom and staying within 1.5’ of it. Both fish bit right near the bottom with the pictured fish hitting the spoon as i dropped it to the ground. Not much of a thump on either one but just weight as soon as I jigged up. Fishing ~10ft of water on a large flat.

Ended up keeping this ~25” fish and taking my first swing at cleaning one. It was surprisingly easy, here’s what I learned:

– using salt to remove slime worked very well. Covering the fish in salt and wiping away with paper towels was very effective compared to just the towels

– peeling off the skin was easier than I thought. I only had a plier wrench with me so had a small point of contact to pinch but the skin came off clean in one piece. Easier than bullhead/catfish in my experience. I had let this fish thaw out pretty well first

– there is a lot of meat on these things. Filleted down to the ribs along the back and through the whole fish from the vent onward, similar to panfish/walleye. We ended up keeping the belly meat as well which was delicious, highly recommend hanging on to it and pan frying.

– hookedupwi on YouTube has some solid videos on how to fillet and cook

Biggest takeaway: these things taste great! Very unique fillet texture, the “poor man’s lobster” is accurate for texture if nothing else. Much more firm and less flaky than most game fish, but not too rubbery in my opinion. We pan fried the belly meat and tried some of the main straps cubed up and boiled in sprite (I was very skeptical of that method 😂 but it worked well). Lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and dipped in melted butter it was delicious!

All in all it was a really fun experience to target and eat these fish. Especially because I cannot target them in my home area so it was a unique opportunity. Go try targeting and eating them if you haven’t!

(Bonus pic of a crayfish I caught jigging for perch lol)