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Three of us headed up to Firehole in pursuit of the elusive burbot. Road conditions were great with minimal patchy ice. Come to find out, burbot aren't so elusive. We fished the rocky shoreline, just upstream of the boat launch, in about 20ft of water. The ice was a clear 11 inches. We started about 4:00pm and picked up our first burbot around 5:45pm. Light to zero jigging, just inches off the bottom was the ticket. We used several types of baits, the most productive included: 3/8oz tube jigs and Buckshot spoons in glow-n-the-dark, tipped with frozen sucker meat, red shiners, and crayfish tails. Some hits were hard, but other fish required some finesse. They put up a nice tussle, and we lost a few at the hole. We left around 10:00pm, after icing 13 burbot averaging 18 inches and 1.3 lbs. They were full of crayfish, which is just one indication of the effect they may have on the Flaming Gorge fishery. We filleted them, and we'll give them a taste test tonight after drowning them in some batter and cooking oil. Stay tuned for more!
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Lets hear how those ugly somes-a-beeatches taste!
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Great report Ryno and thanks for all the details. Hard to believe the ice is so think already, it must have had ice on it for a while now. Did you catch any other fish beside the burbot? Do you think the key to catching the fish was fishing the rocky shoreline? WH2
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Thanks for the report . I hope to get up there this coming year . I hear Firehole has been capped for a month now .
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Nice report on the Gorge, and strong work on smakin' some burbot! Let us know how they taste.
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I celebrated the New Year with burbot, and cooked them up for lunch yesterday. They were great! I was worried what my family would think, but they liked them too. We ate about 6 fish, like they were popcorn. It was really easy. I simply filleted them, cut them into 3 inch chunks, seasoned them with garlic and lemon pepper, fried them in butter, and sprinkled them with lemon juice. We just put the plate out on the table and ate them like finger food. They had a texture beyond comparison for me, and had a mild flavor like a walleye or perch. My boss boiled his and dipped them in melted butter. He was also really impressed with the flavor. Hope you get into them!
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