Burbot

[formereskymo]

Chris, do you have a link to the old post you put up each year on how to clean burbot??? I am going to try for some down here in Winnebago.

Also, if people could chyme in on what their favorate Burbot recipies that would be greatly appreciated. Now I just need to catch some.

[corby]

I'd love to see that as well...if Chris doesn't have it, maybe Kevin Lee can help out. I heard he loves these....Thanks guys

[The Bait Shop Guy]

Here you go guys, (sorry for the late reply.)

After you catch your burbot, whack it over the head with an ice skimmer (or any other blunt object,) to kill it, then lay it on it's side. They are a little easier to clean if they are partly frozen. If you don't kill them first, they will freeze in a curled up position.

With the fish laying on it's side on your cutting board, make a cut from the leading edge of the anal fin to the leading edge of the long dorsal fin. Remove the meat from there to the end of the tail. Skin like you would any other fish fillet.

With both tail fillets removed, roll the fish onto it's belly and make two cuts down the length of the fish, from it's head to where you removed the tail. Cut down to the ribs. Now cut across the back of the fish, behind the head, down to the ribs. Starting from the center of the fish, follow the top of the ribs with your knife. Keep going when you reach the skin and roll out the "back strap."

When you are done, you'll have four pieces of boneless burbot. Cook it anyway you want. The meat is very firm and will not flake apart. It makes the best poor man's lobster you ever had!

[corby]

Thanks Chris...can't wait to try one. Nobody I've talked to had anything but good things to say about them...Corby

[Kevin Lee]

I have tried to fix Burbot several different ways. I have gutted them and cut their head off like a bluegill then boiled whole, steaked them like a salmon, and a couple other ways. I have not eaten a bad Burbot yet! But I have to say, simply frying them up in butter seems the best to me. I do sprinkle a little Lawry's salt on. A few days ago, I tried another twist. I filleted them like Chris shows in his pictures. Though sometimes, if it is a pretty good size Burbot, I'll slice the loins into thinner strips so it cooks a little quicker. Anyway, I fried them in butter like I always do. Then for something different, I sprinkled a little parmeson cheese on them and put them under the broiler for a couple minutes. That was darn good too. As evidenced by the fact that Kenneth and I ate all 3 Burbot that evening. By the way, I want to thank Ryan Lindbert from TKL Auto Repair for giving me the 3 Burbot. If anyone wants to try fishing for Burbot on LBDN, all you have to do really is fish the base of the drop-offs. It seems to be a little better south of Gladstone. You want to fish at night, use something that glows like a Buckshot Rattle Spoon, and tip with a chunk of minnow. I actually prefer to use about a 3 inch live sucker and hook it thru the tail. I think the most fish my wife and I have caught in one evening was 9 fish by 10:00 o'clock. Could have stayed and caught more, but that was enough for us. I usually keep my bait about 4 feet off bottom. They seem to have uncanny eye sight at night. One time I was in 42 feet of water and had just caught one, recharged my lure, and was watching it drop back to bottom on my graph. Almost as soon as my lure was under the ice, I saw a fish coming off bottom. I thought to myself "no way, this can't be another Burbot". Anyway, that fish met and hit my lure when it was only half way to bottom!!! So ever since then, I keep my lure off bottom a few feet. On the flip side of that thought, I have a friend that fishes them with tip-ups on Crystal Lake in the lower peninsula and he sets his bait right on the bottom and does real well. See you on the ice...