Introduction to Burbot Fishing
Jim Shell had a brainstorm on burbot, one of Illinois’ oddest fish. “Although a straggler can be caught accidentally during the day, they are strictly nocturnal predators,” Shell emailed after his first attempt in early June to night fish for burbot by jigging reefs in Illinois waters of Lake Michigan.
“We target them every year at our annual trip to Red Lake, Ontario. In Red Lake we fish the same structures we catch lake trout during the day and fish those spots at night for burbot. . . . It was my goal to catch burbot in our part of lake Michigan this summer.”
I’m all for quixotic quests. His proved successful.
Jim Shell holds a trio of big burbot caught on one of the nights he experimented with night fishing reefs in Illinois waters of Lake Michigan for burbot.
Mapping the Reefs
I had written about the Illinois Natural History Survey mapping the reefs. Shell found the list of reefs mapped so far at ifishillinois.org/lmich/index.php.(click on Fish Habitat and scroll down). He studied them, then picked reefs (Julian’s, Gumby, Waukegan) he thought had the best chance of burbot.
After a long boat ride (he times his trips for light wind nights) the first night, he arrived early to map the structure by trolling a couple hours in daylight, catching five lake trout and a coho.
“I was pleased to see lakers were present as it further boosted my confidence that burbot would show up after dark,” Shell emailed. “Burbot are known to be bottom feeders and hold tight to the bottom.”
The first burbot bite came an hour after dark. In the next four hours, he boated four burbot and two lakers, and missed at least another four burbot.
Effective Fishing Methods
At Red Lake, he learned a jigging spoon and a night crawler were effective. At the depths he’s fishing, he uses braided line to feel the bite and bottom, though he said when burbot hit you know it.
“Fishes of the Chicago Region” (pages 322-323) describes burbot, the only freshwater cod, as having “a long, slender body quite slimy to the touch. . . . a single chin barbel, a rounded caudal fin and a very long anal fin (52-76 soft rays. The two dorsal fins are not connected, the second being quite long (61-81 soft rays).”
Burbot need cold water and are typically deep on Lake Michigan. Toward winter, burbot will come shallower and near shore. In recent years, select shore anglers have learned to target them then.
Saro Kevorkian caught the Illinois record burbot night fishing at Diversey Harbor Dec. 7, 2020. It was kept overnight in a minnow tank at Park Bait until certified the next day, then Kevorkian released it into Montrose Harbor.
Saro Kevorkian holds the Illinois-record burbot–caught Dec. 7, 2020, at Diversey Harbor–while having it weighed at Park Bait. The next day, after being verified, it was released behind Park Bait into Montrose Harbor.
Success and Concerns
Shell made four trips in June to jig for burbot on the reefs and boated burbot every time. The best night he boated nine. His biggest were at 7.75-pounds.
Vic Santucci, Lake Michigan program program manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, has little concern about overfishing burbot. partly because their habits.
“I can’t really envision the case for concern over burbot populations being impacted by recreational fishing in the vast Illinois waters of Lake Michigan,” he emailed. “They are caught incidentally by salmon and trout anglers and there are folks that target them, which is great.
“I am also hearing about more interest in jigging offshore reefs for lake trout, and I could see this leading to increased catches and possibly harvest of burbot. Even if this happens, harvest would have to really ramp up substantially to impact the populations out there.”
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