Burb spawn

[WayneChristie]

So if someone is a newby to burb spawning what sort of areas would you look for in the lake?

[dodgeboy1979]

8-10 ft of water, sandy bottom.

[Coiloil37]

I look for lots of trucks with guys standing around outside their shacks. Usually they’re all jigging fairly aggressively with rod in hand. Whitefish will be scattered at their feet. You should start seeing it at a lake near you in about two weeks.

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by Coiloil37

I look for lots of trucks with guys standing around outside their shacks. Usually they’re all jigging fairly aggressively with rod in hand. Whitefish will be scattered at their feet. You should start seeing it at a lake near you in about two weeks.

Are you thumping or using wire worms for the whitefish? I’m guessing jighead and minnow for the burbs

[Evil69]

sand flat in 8-10 FOW near a drop to deep water is my preferred location...a rock pile near by is a bonus

[WayneChristie]

Originally Posted by Evil69

sand flat in 8-10 FOW near a drop to deep water is my preferred location...a rock pile near by is a bonus

thats around what I was at last winter maybe a little deeper when I caught the only one Ive pulled out of that lake. guess I know where to start then thanks for the tips everyone.

[Coiloil37]

Originally Posted by slough shark

Are you thumping or using wire worms for the whitefish? I’m guessing jighead and minnow for the burbs

I run a small spoon or bell shaped “thumper” on the bottom with a wire worm about a foot up the line. The whites will hit both lures, the burbs usually hit the bottom hook. I don’t bother with bait, just let it hit the bottom, wait a second then rip it up half a meter and drop it again.

I also drill two holes about 2-3 feet apart and work a rod in each hand. When I get a hit I drop the other rod. I’ve been doing that for at least ten years and have never had a fish tangle in the other line.

These would be top contenders for the bottom hook. Just have to try them to figure out what they want that day.

[happyfisher]

What's a thumper?...like just anything like a spoon u thump the sand with?

[Coiloil37]

Originally Posted by happyfisher

What's a thumper?...like just anything like a spoon u thump the sand with?

Yea anything heavy to hit the ground and stir some sand up but specifically it would be that ugly shaped lure on the far right in my picture. The only issue with spoons and the like when jigging like that they often get the treble hook wrapped around the line and don’t jig properly. That particular lure doesn’t have that problem.

[Fishtracker]

Where did you find that thumper? Been trying to buy a few, but can't seem to find them.

[Coiloil37]

Originally Posted by Fishtracker

Where did you find that thumper? Been trying to buy a few, but can't seem to find them.

Sportsmen’s den in red deer always has them. One year they (fish) wanted silver and I only had gold so that’s why it’s got solder all over the outside. If you wanted to make your own just go to michaels in red deer and buy the bells, jam a treble hook up the guts and fill it with solder.

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by Coiloil37

I run a small spoon or bell shaped “thumper” on the bottom with a wire worm about a foot up the line. The whites will hit both lures, the burbs usually hit the bottom hook. I don’t bother with bait, just let it hit the bottom, wait a second then rip it up half a meter and drop it again.

I also drill two holes about 2-3 feet apart and work a rod in each hand. When I get a hit I drop the other rod. I’ve been doing that for at least ten years and have never had a fish tangle in the other line.

These would be top contenders for the bottom hook. Just have to try them to figure out what they want that day.

How do you tie your wire worm a foot up? I’ve never heard of a setup like that for ice fishing. Sounds almost like a dropper while fly fishing

[Coiloil37]

Originally Posted by slough shark

How do you tie your wire worm a foot up? I’ve never heard of a setup like that for ice fishing. Sounds almost like a dropper while fly fishing

I probably don’t do it right but I use a clinch knot, or sometimes a trilene knot. If someone has a better knot I’m all ears but so far I haven’t had it fail on me.

I also tie the wire worm so it lays horizontal, hook up.

[Marty S]

Gee... hate to say I Wayne!!! I think the birth control drugs cycles thru the Calgary discharge has done our burbot in??? Anybody getting burbot anymore in either th EID or BRID areas?

They used to catch mountains of them in the Bow. No more in the regular hangouts. How about you when you are sturgeon fishin? They used to say you couldn't keep th ignorant things off your sturgeon baits in the summer.

[WayneChristie]

Originally Posted by Marty S

Gee... hate to say I Wayne!!! I think the birth control drugs cycles thru the Calgary discharge has done our burbot in??? Anybody getting burbot anymore in either th EID or BRID areas?

They used to catch mountains of them in the Bow. No more in the regular hangouts. How about you when you are sturgeon fishin? They used to say you couldn't keep th ignorant things off your sturgeon baits in the summer.

I do catch the odd one usually during runoff. I remember they were a lot more common when I was growing up in Calgary in the Bow, used to catch the odd bigger one then.

[Drewski Canuck]

To tie a wire worm or a Russian Hook a foot up from the thumper, put the line through the eye of the top hook, make a loop and put the line through again, then make a second loop by again passing through the eye. It will look like two butterfly wings now.

take the loose end, pass it through the two "wings" and out between the wings. Now slowly draw it tight. Take the standing end that should be about a foot long, and tie on the "thumper". Now jig to your heart's content.

You can also tie on the standing end a small swivel snap which makes it easier to experiment with different styles of thumpers.

By the way the solid brass bells are just weighted ends from the pull cords of a venetian blind. I don't know where to get them any more. Drill out the middle a bit to get the treble hook eye through, and you can solder or just 5 minute epoxy the hole closed to hold the hook on the bell.

Drewski

[Joe Quiroga]

Originally Posted by Marty S

Gee... hate to say I Wayne!!! I think the birth control drugs cycles thru the Calgary discharge has done our burbot in??? Anybody getting burbot anymore in either th EID or BRID areas?

They used to catch mountains of them in the Bow. No more in the regular hangouts. How about you when you are sturgeon fishin? They used to say you couldn't keep th ignorant things off your sturgeon baits in the summer.

Never caught one in the Bow but I do catch them fairly regularly down here.

Seem to bite just after the ice opens up (and the season). Also catch them while fishing on cool nights or on gloomy, rainy, overcast days during summer.

Never tried ice fishing for them.

[BiggieB]

During the spawn Fish em shallow (5-15ft) in either sandy or preferably rocky bottom
I like to use glow in the dark spoons, jigs or anything with lots of flash since they have poor eye sight, they are also bottom feeders so pound the lake bottom with your lure and stir up silt, it’ll cause attraction and the burbot will come in thinking it’s a spawning frenzy. (Dead sticking and tip ups work too just leave the lure right on bottom)

Use some very oily fish (smelts, chunks of herring etc) or some kind of bait with lots of sent, if you catch one get your bait back down as fast as you can because when the spawn happens they school in the shallows, usually the spawn happens around Mid Feb into late March but I have caught a few excited males in December/January that we’re milking already

Early season they can be caught in deeper water during low light periods they are for the most part nocturnal hunters and are light sensitive so they are in the deep holes until they come shallow for the spawn, you can have good luck fishing for them in 25+ft deep in early season

Now get out and catch some eelpout

[Fish along]

This is a great thread lots of helpful information thank you

[DOGFISH]

X2 on the early season we are catching them in 30 feet of water dead sticking a minnow right on the bottom. We quit fishing and pull our rods at 01:00 otherwise the burbot keep us up all night.