Fishing for burbot is not the most popular type of catching freshwater predators among fishermen. Nevertheless, the attractiveness, mystery, and certain exoticism of fishing excites the inquisitive minds of fishing enthusiasts, and there is no fisherman who would miss the opportunity to enjoy the opportunity to catch this only representative of cod living in our fresh waters.
The range of this nocturnal predator is not so wide and planning fishing requires specific knowledge about the locations of this fish. The presence of a predator in a reservoir does not guarantee one hundred percent success in catching a burbot. The fish is quite picky about weather conditions and its activity changes dramatically depending on the period of the year. On the other hand, the fishing process itself is not very difficult and does not require specialized equipment.
Tackle for catching burbot can be prepared right on the shore of a reservoir, without resorting to special tricks and without worrying about its excessive roughness. In the article we will try to cover the main points of preparation for fishing, directly define strategy and tactics, discuss hunting tools, bait and the best time to catch burbot.
Burbot spawning
This bottom predator is one of the few fish species whose spawning period occurs exclusively in the winter months of the year. You can catch burbot during the mating season, because the reproduction process itself is periodic, and in the intervals between spawning cycles the fish feeds quite actively. Starting from the third ten days of December, when stable ice cover sets in, the fish gather in small schools on the pebble bottom and lay eggs. The breeding season lasts until March. In some regions of the country there are bans on catching predators within strictly defined calendar periods, which should be taken into account when developing fishing strategies . It is worth noting that it is after spawning that the moments of peak successful fishing occur, which gives the angler the opportunity to confidently plan fishing for burbot in the spring.
Important! We remember that by catching breeding fish, we significantly reduce its population, thereby reducing our chances of fishing success in future periods.
Where to catch burbot
This peculiar bottom predator prefers rivers with strong and moderate currents, with relatively cold waters. The depth range of habitat varies from shallow waters with a water level of one and a half meters, to holes over ten meters deep. Bottom bases are preferable with rocky, multi-level linings, in which fish prefer to hunt at night and rest in the daytime. Burbot sites can also be on flat, hard bottom soils of sandy and clayey composition, but there must be cliffs or deep ditches nearby, with the possibility of hiding the predator in burrows or natural grottoes.
Favorite fish, promising fishing spots for anglers are the return flows on the edges and rifts of rivers, where the flow is divided into two streams, spinning whirlpools over pools with holes and bottom anomalies in the form of snags and various stones. The distance to the coastline has little effect on the predator’s lifestyle, and a parking spot can be found 2–3 meters from the shore. The muddy bottom and water thickets are absolutely unsuitable for searching for bottom predators. Clear water, strong currents and free spaces are its natural elements.
Features of choosing bait and bait for burbot
From season
The best time to catch burbot is from mid-October to early May. Burbot is most active during the cold season. A break in fishing may occur during spawning.
The end of October is marked by the pre-spawning feeding of this fish, so it will swallow the bait almost without looking or examining it. You can use any convenient bait.
In the summer, it is almost impossible to lure burbot out of hiding; the fish is very sleepy and does not bite well. The best time in summer is cloudy, cold weather. You can use dead and frozen fish, frogs, and worms as bait.
A good time to catch burbot is early spring. In bad weather, you can count on a larger catch here than when fishing on a clear day. But it is best to catch burbot at night, because it is at this time that he is not very picky about food; he is also attracted to worms, frogs and any fish.
Winter is the ideal time to catch burbot, and this time should also be used to look for fish sites. Thanks to ice, you can try many places and find out exactly where the fish are. In winter, you can catch burbot with almost any bait: live bait, worms, shrimp, meat.
From the gear used
The most popular gear used in winter is winter bottom fishing rods. If fishing is passive, then they use girders. You can use any fish, worms, chicken giblets, or shrimp as bait. For winter fishing, you can also use tackle for the last vertical lure. Here you can use fillets of any fish, larvae, frogs, worms.
Very often, fishermen use fishing rods with a spoon; fishing rods with a jig are also good. Before choosing bait for a fishing rod with a spoon, you need to remember that you need to choose a fish for bait as close as possible to the fish that burbot feed on.
You can also catch burbot using large homemade jigs; their shape should resemble a cone. You can also attach a smaller tee to the bait. The bait should be light in color and shiny to attract fish. You can also use pieces of dead or frozen fish. Donka for burbot is also popular because it does not require expensive parts. Often fishermen make it themselves. It is recommended to use small pieces of fish as bait, which the burbot knows and often feeds on.
When is the best time to catch fish?
Burbot fishing is a seasonal activity, which is reasonable to plan only during the cold season. It’s worth noting right away that summer fishing is completely futile, unless you take into account the squinting method, when you catch burbot with your hands in holes. The main period for effective fishing sessions is the second half of October and until May.
Based on this time period, it is clearly clear that the predator can be caught both in open water and from under the ice. Daily fishing occurs especially during the dark and night periods. During the day, the fish does not show any activity. An interesting point is the activation of the bite based on weather conditions. Burbot begins to bite well when the weather deteriorates significantly and any other fish stops its activity.
Important! Sharp cold snaps, a significant increase in wind and an increase in precipitation, coupled with falling atmospheric pressure, give rise to successful fishing.
This is where you have the opportunity to use the vicissitudes of the weather to benefit your hobby.
Burbot biting calendar by month
| January | February | March | April | May | June |
| +++ | +++ | ++ | ++ | + | — |
| July | August | September | October | November | December |
| — | — | + | ++ | +++ | +++ |
What to catch burbot with
Baits for burbot
Let's consider the use of baits, focusing on the seasons of the year. Bait for burbot is only applicable of animal origin. The predator is indifferent to plant overgrowths. Of the artificial baits, only trolling allows you to hunt this sloth more effectively.
Autumn bait
The beginning of the hunting season is also characterized by a wide range of possibilities for using baits. Even in relatively warm water, worms are used for bait, ranging from dung worms to crawling worms. They try to catch larger specimens by stringing bait onto a hook in bunches of 5-7 specimens. The addition of fatty white maggots increases the chances of the fish quickly detecting the bait. Burbots respond well to chicken giblets with bovine or pork liver. Crayfish neck, carp fillet, defrosted shrimp, trimmings of fresh red fish will also be to the taste of the predator. For live bait in the autumn, it is worth using frogs and small bleak or roach. Even a dead fish placed on a burbot trail will become its prey.
Winter bait
In winter, you mostly have to fish from ice. Live bait allows you to successfully catch burbot. The best option for winter hunting is to install a ruff. Medium-sized live baits are slightly pressed down to reduce their activity and placed on the bottom. The use of roach, crucian carp and bleak is less effective. Among the alternatives to the ruffe, only the gudgeon can be distinguished, which is also artificially limited in its movements.
Burbot reacts weaker to dead baits and requires bait in the form of a bleeding liver or spoiled chicken giblets in places where the girders are installed. Winter is the time to use artificial baits, one of which is a burbot spinner in the form of a double spoon, the so-called snitch. Narrow pike perch spoons in silver and yellow-golden colors are also suitable for trolling.
Spring bait
In the spring they continue to fish with live bait, using ruffes and minnows. After spawning is completed, the predator’s menu also includes dead bait with a bleeding component, and therefore, the liver and fish fillet soaked in its own juice become effective bait tools. With the melting of ice, already in open water that is beginning to warm up, the amount of bait and its size on the hook are reduced, adding feeders to the equipment to attract a predator. The fish loses its activity and feeds in small portions, ignoring large pieces, instinctively going only to the smell of bait.
Summer bait
As discussed above, summer is not the best time for burbot fishing. But if you want to try your luck and test your skills, and the factors of the reservoir give you a chance of success, then you should try catching with bunches of worms. Lures should be placed in places where fast, mixing jets make the flow cooler compared to places where the calm, even flow of water is much warmer. Live bait is less preferred due to the scanty activity of freshwater cod in the warm season.
Other baits
A variety of baits are used to catch burbot. Among them are bunches of red worms, chicken giblets, crawlies, and leeches. But the real delicacy is crayfish and frog meat. All kinds of attractants are often used. The predator bites on all of the above baits. Some are better, others are worse, but they bite. In its diet, burbot is very similar to catfish. Often, tackle with a spinner or jig is good for catching burbot.
When catching a predator, experienced burbot fishermen inspect its belly in order to determine the most catchable bait. If undigested fish are found in the belly, you should catch them with live bait. If crayfish are found, you can try to take them as bait. The risk of using worms is that they can be eaten by small fish.
Silicone baits are practically not used for catching burbot, since the predator uses smell and hearing when feeding. In this regard, baits that make a ringing sound are more advantageous.
The unpretentiousness of burbot in nutrition opens up a creative approach for some fishermen when choosing bait. And the most savvy ones succeed in this. Thus, when going for burbot, you should prepare a wide variety of tasty treats, but still the best bait for burbot is live bait!
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Catching burbot at different times of the year in different ways
The variety of methods for catching this type of fish differs in its application characteristics depending on the season of the year. Gear for burbot is similar to gear for catching other predatory representatives of fresh water bodies, only the small nuances of the installation itself are decisive in a particular fishing season. Further, as the article progresses, the rationale for using fishing methods based on these temporary changes will be given.
Spring burbot fishing
Spring time is divided into two seasons: the end of freeze-up and open water. On the last ice, it is effective to use two fishing methods: passive, using winter poles or stakes, and active, using winter spinning for trolling. When the ice melts, classic bottom fishing is used, which in its modern interpretation involves the use of a spinning rod, which is more preferable and more productive in terms of catches. Reducing fish activity requires precise placement of bait on the burbot trail, and accurate casting of equipment using a rod is much easier than adjusting a rubber donkey or fishing with equipment with floats.
Autumn burbot fishing
The season of greatest opportunities, when the angler has the right to use any equipment designed for catching this predator. The pre-spawning period forces the bottom sloth to make active night walks over considerable distances and the relevance of the trails becomes dull, which makes it possible to catch fish throughout the entire water area of its habitat. Classic bottom rigging, elastic bottom rigs, the use of float gear, girders and floating circles are suitable. The fishing methods are passive, requiring the angler only to install the rig itself and periodically check the rig for bites.
Fishing for burbot in summer
Summer is a period of calm for burbot. Fishing for burbot in the summer can be carried out using set-up baits and classic types of bottom rigs, leaving them in one place for several days, checking only the condition of the bait and possible isolated bites.
How to catch burbot in winter
Winter is a period of active fishing, when you can not only place bets and flags, but also work with a winter spinning rod, trolling large specimens on the trajectories of burbot trails and their camp sites spotted along the open water. They fish, as throughout the year, in the dark, starting to set up gear before dark and removing it after dawn. The spinning technique is based on tapping the spinner on the bottom and taking long pauses, up to half a minute, during which the attack occurs. The casting of the spinners is sluggish, without sharp explosions.
Read more about how to catch burbot in winter, choosing the most effective method and time.
Let's decide on gear for catching burbot
Tackle for burbot is simple and uncomplicated, because this fish is not a cautious species of underwater inhabitants. Typically, gear for catching burbot is assembled with one’s own hands and relatively thick versions of the main line are used.
The main elements of tackle and equipment for catching burbot:
- Typically, a fishing line with a diameter of 0.4 mm is used. More often they use regular monofilament, but in places where there is a chance of catching a trophy, braided cord turns out to be better: stronger and more resistant to wear;
- leashes are not a necessary part, because burbot does not have sharp teeth that can damage standard fishing line. If leashes are used, there is no point in using fluorocarbon; burbot does not need the transparency of fluoric. Steel leaders are also useless; monofilament will come in handy;
- Any rods and reels are suitable; you can use old but strong spinning rods made of aluminum and spinning rods of a basic design. Durability is a key characteristic;
- It is better to use hooks with a long shank; they are easier to remove from the fish’s mouth.
Read more
What is a trolling reel?
The specific choice of elements depends on the type of gear selected for the season and fishing conditions. Typically used for fishing:
- changeover;
- feeder;
- donks: elastic band, throw;
- live bait fishing rod.
The burbot tackle is simple and uncomplicated.
Several additional tackle options:
- snack. We take a large piece of fishing line (about 100 m), tie a sinker to the end, and attach several leashes and hooks a little higher. We wind the end of the fishing line onto a reel and attach it to a tree or peg on the shore. We equip the hooks with attachments. We cast from the shore or bring in gear from a boat;
- rubber. Refers to types of fishing that require the participation of a fisherman. The difference with the previous tackle is that a rubber shock absorber is attached to the main line and is connected to a sinker. The length of the shock absorber is 5-10 m. The tackle does not need repeated re-casts;
- feeder. You will need a long fishing rod of 3.3-3.6 m, a multiplier reel of 2000-3000, braid or other fishing line that can withstand a breaking force of 5 kg. We install a bite alarm on the feeder.
How to catch burbot on a donk
The rod is mounted under the bottom using braided cords no thicker than 0.25 mm. For the sinker, a sliding version of the flat type is used, which allows the load to stay more reliably in the current. The mass is selected based on the current forces. Leashes are also used from a braided cord, half the diameter from the base.
Important! Metal leashes are not functional, since the fish cannot bite even a thick monofilament line.
Single hooks are used, with a long shank, no more than 12-14 numbers. After setting the bait, the equipment is cast to a promising fishing point and the rod is placed on the flyer, equipped with a sound alarm. Burbot bites are inert and in most cases unnoticeable. Having taken the bait, the fish remains to swallow it on the spot, and having swallowed it, it lies on the bottom and freezes. The time of such calm can drag on for hours and the fisherman, only checking the bait, discovers an already existing trophy with a deeply swallowed hook.
Important! A long, reliable extractor for burbot fishing is an important tool that helps improve fishing comfort.
Fishing with an elastic band
Rubber donks are used after the dead aquatic vegetation has been carried away by the current and the water streams have been cleared of dirt and floaters. Bottom tackle rigs are equipped with short, no more than 20 cm, leashes with hooks, in quantities from three to ten pieces, placed along the length of the cord every 5-7 meters. The leashes are loaded by the under-shepherd to press the bait as close as possible to the bottom of the reservoir. Multidirectional baits are hung on hooks to determine the preferences of predatory fish. Subsequently, they switch to the optimal option, which ensures a stable burbot bite. Leashes with live bait are supplemented with floats that do not allow live fish to hide in the stones.
The balance of the float should hold the bait no higher than five centimeters from the bottom. Otherwise, such attachments will be completely ignored. Bites on a rubber donk are also not confident in their strength and are visually determined with difficulty. Self-notching in most cases is the logical conclusion of any bite. It is recommended to check the bottom at a certain interval, for example, every one and a half to two hours, monitoring all hooks for the integrity of the burbot bait and the caught fish. Fishing for a caught trophy is definitely amorphous in nature. The caught fish does not resist at all and is pulled ashore without much difficulty.
Fishing with float tackle
Catching a bottom sloth is possible using a float rod. If the angler knows a reliable anchorage point, it is not difficult to mount a simple float tackle for burbot using a fishing line, a sliding olive sinker, a single hook with a long shank and a float in the form of a boss, preferably with an illuminated high antenna, weighing up to ten grams. The rig can be installed on different types of rods - fly rod, Bolognese rod and match rod, making a choice based on the distance to the fishing spot. The bait is placed 5-7 centimeters from the bottom, controlling the retrieval along the required trajectory. The bite is determined by the sinking of the float.
After waiting a pause of ten seconds, they make a smooth hook with the rod itself. In most cases, the fish remains on the hook, since its attack on the bait involves completely swallowing the bait at once. Further fishing is carried out in the normal mode, winding the cord using a reel or, as in the case of a fly rod, simply pulling the trophy to a distance from which the fish can be taken into the landing net.
General requirements for choosing bait
There are several requirements for burbot bait in winter:
- It has a fairly large mouth, so the bait must be of an appropriate size. When using live bait, its length should be in the range of 7–10 centimeters. If you fish with worms, you need to take a bunch of 5–7 pieces. This predator may not even notice a single worm on a hook;
- the color of the bait has no meaning due to the poor vision of the predator;
- the bait should have a pleasant smell and, if using live bait, the sound that comes from it. This is due to their excellent sense of smell and hearing.
