Ling Cod In The Bow

[osprey]

Wading among big boulders downstream of 22X last week I startled (and was startled by) a big Burbot coming out from under a rock.

Maybe 35". Anyone else seeing these?

[birchy]

Yep.. they're around. Few and far between.. but they're there.

[Badger]

...

[j5ep00]

I swore up and down to never touch another one of these again!

Dissusting and creepy if you ask me!

I dislike these things so much that if i ever catch one agian i will just cut my line instead of touching it!

hopefully none of you ever have to deal with one lol

[admin]

They are some of the best eating, and their skin just peels of so nicely.

 

No, this isn't my picture... but it's funny.

[KnotLikely]

LadyStrange and I saw a dead one last night south of 22x in the area you're talking about, big bugger to. We were both kinda shocked to see it...definitely not one of the more attractive fish species are they.

 

p.s. Congrats to LadyStrange on her first Bow River walk and wade fish. A nice little brown caught on one of her own creations.

[rhuseby]

I've got to catch one of those guys, just to add to the list of Alberta species caught. All those darn trout keep getting to the streamer first (grin).

[monger]

Both my buddy and I have caught one on the SJW. I also stepped on a 30"+ one a long time ago. They are native fish that have always been in the Bow/Highwood/Sheep.

[trailhead]

There are actually a lot of them in the Bow. And sometimes if you hook a real freight train it might be a burbot/ling. They are a very strong fish and they are excellent eating, from a clean lake or river. I wouldn't eat one out of the Bow because they are opportunistic feeders so, they eat everything in the river alive and dead, and it's usually on the bottom. A buddy of mine got one on a streamer that he was stripping in and he stopped becasue the line was fouled in his reel. When he got it straightened out he thought he was snagged on the bottom, then it took off. He finally landed it and it was a 35 inch ling.

[MMAX]

They probably occupy almost every water body in the province. I've even heard of a few of them coming from Stauffer Creek. A friend of mine who scuba dives was telling me one time that a friend of his was diving in a lake up north and he saw one between 4-5 feet long.

[reevesr1]

I was with Max yesterday, and he saw below a rock we were anchored near as I retied after breaking off on bottom. Grabbed his streamer rod, hooked him after a couple of casts. It ran under the boat and got off. I never saw it, but Max said it was a big sucker.

[ladystrange]

interesting this topic would come up. as knotlikely mentioned, we were walking along, a little north of where we would normally fish due to some angler traffic, as we crossed the side channel about to fish and we noticed this half eaten rotting carcas laying off to the side. i think we spent about 5 min discussing whether or not either of us had ever heard of burbot in the bow.

 

how odd that i had never heard this before, let alone seen one. humm. strange.