Northwest Fishing Reports

My brothers and I are planning our first ever trip to Banks lake for later this spring. We are planning to stay in one of the camp grounds in or near Steam Boat park. Possibly in mid May.

We are looking forward to the bass and walleye fishing of course, but I am particularly wanting to catch some Burbot to cook. Ling Cod is my all time favorite eating fish and Im hoping Burbot is just as good.

Anyway, I know how to catch Lings in the Sound - you catch some small sole or flounder or what ever to use as live bait - but how do you target them at Banks? From the fishing reports that Ive read it sounds like they are being caught mostly by accident while targeting walleye or bass.

Anyone have any pointers for going after them specifically? In the Sound I have the best luck near steep, rocky drop offs using live bait.

Any other tips for a first time banks trip would also be appreciated

I must have mistyped my first search try when I found nothing on Burbot. Just tried again and found a bunch of stuff to try out!

Still wouldnt mind any other tips or suggestions for a Banks trip

I haven't tried fishing for Burbut in Washington, but I've caught them on fish scraps in Canada. I think they are pretty deep in the Summer time. I tell you one think though, to me they taste even better than Ling Cod deep fried, and I love Ling Cod. I've always wanted to try for some Washington Burbot. Good luck. Let us know what you think of them. I hope they are as good as the ones I had.

Counting down the days! Four weeks till we hit Banks Lake. I will report how we do

Never eaten one. Said to be quite tasty. In spite if the name similarity (Lingcod in salt water, Ling or Burbot in freshwater) there is absolutely no similarity or relationship to each other in these two fish. Not in any way related. Two completely different critters. Many folks who actually catch a ling/burbot get so creeped out by their eel-like appearance and writhing around behavior that it immediately becomes the last thing they'd ever want to eat - or even touch. Good luck.

This is how the burbot is described by most sites Ive checked on-line. Sounds pretty close to ling to me. Although it certainly looks very different from the lings Ive caught.

The burbot (Lota lota) or bubbot[1] is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish. Also known as mariah, the lawyer, and (misleadingly) eelpout, the burbot is closely related to the marine common ling and the cusk. It is the only member of the genus Lota.

In any case, we did NOT catch any burbot this time out. Fishing was pretty slow for most everyone there during the week. We managed a few decent 2# - 3.5# sm bass and 3 keeper walleye over 3 1/2 days of intensive fishing. Most people we talked to were doing about the same as we were or worse, but a few guys were doing great on walleye.

I shouldn't really say it was slow - we caught a bunch of small bass and about a gazillion small walleye! The small walleye were hitting anything you threw in the water in any depth at every location we tried! Finding the keepers was what was difficult.

Oh - we got skunked on crawfish too!

Caught one one time fishing for bass out there, but have never actually heard of much success from people who actually target them.