My brothers and I had a great time catching burbot at the burbot bash this year. My younger brother just asked me if you could catch them from shore anywhere durring the summer. Had to be honest never hear about them much other then in the winter. So my question is can you catch them durring the summer from the shore anywhere or maybe in a tube close to shore and if so what to use for bait?
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Hey Rich,
a friend of mine caught them last fall while jigging for lake trout in 80' of water. I've never heard of anyone catching them out of a float tube but that does not mean it can't be done[
]. If no one else responds you can always send a PM to Fishley or Ryno and ask them, good luck.
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here is what is reported on the division of wildlife's fish report.
Burbot: Ice-fishing season is over for burbot, but you can still catch them using many of the same techniques. Take your boat out at night and use glowing jigs and spoons. Depths of 20–40 feet should hold the most fish, especially from dusk until a couple of hours after dark. Try fishing at night or early in the morning off the points in areas like Antelope Flat, Linwood Bay or Sheep Creek in Utah. In Wyoming, your best bets are Firehole, Lost Dog, Sage Creek, Confluence, Buckboard, Holmes Crossing, Anvil Draw, Skunk Cliffs and Marsh Creek. Tipping your lures with sucker or crayfish meat and using smelly jelly or similar scents in crayfish also seems to help.
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You can definitely get them in open water. Fishley even had some big catches during the heat of the summer last year. They just go deeper once the surface temps heat up in the summer, and you've got to fish a little deeper and slower. I don't see any reason why you couldn't target them from float boats either.
Right now the surface temps on the Gorge are 40-44F, so burbot can still be found shallow. I stayed after dark last Wednesday night and casted glow jigs for about an hour. I caught 3 burbot and had a couple of light hitters during that time. I was using a 4-in Yamamoto grub in glow, tipped with sucker. It was windy, so vertical jigging was a pain. I just casted towards shore and slowly worked the jig back to the boat, just off the bottom. The three fish ranged from 18-22 inches and were caught in the vicinity of Upper Marsh Creek, where we've caught them through the ice.
If you're hoping to catch them from shore, I don't have any good experience to offer. I've tried fishing off shore once before with no success. I think my problem was getting the bait off the bottom. One thing I've wanted to try is using a slip rig, an egg sinker or casting bubble, with about 12 inches of leader and a floating jig head (glow-n-the dark) tipped with bait at the terminal end. Note: Northland is one company that makes floating jig heads for walleye fishing. Someone else suggested to me using a hook at the terminal end, but clipping a small bobber just before it to float the bait.
Cast out from shore and try to get your bait in the target zone where water depth ranges from 10-40ft. Look for the same habitat that smallmouth would occupy and fish the same areas where you catch them under the ice. They're there in huge numbers, it's just a matter of finding the technique that will work. Good luck, Ryno
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i was there this past weekend too. and i caught 6 on saturday night. using sucker meat floated up using marshmellows. i use glow in dark bead ran down to the hook which give you the glow part of it. if things are same as last year i have caught them from bank all the way tell end of may..then mostly out of boat where i can get to 40ft...good luck
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Thanks to all for the info. Now that I got my money out of him for my old bow it's time to spend his money on a tube or boat. Then some gas so we can get some more Burbot.
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