Eelpout/Burbot...go ahead and click

[polarsusd81]

So I was thinking this morning, do Burbot have any natural predators in the lakes they inhabit? Muskies and Pike will go for ciscos, chubs, shiners, and perch before anything else. Walleyes may be able to eat them before they are a year old, but surely would prefer something else. They spawn on shallow rocks under the ice, so crayfish possibly during the hatch, but I think crayfish go dormant in the winter, though I know pout like to eat em. Most fish in the lake other than Muskies and Pike are too small to seriously give em a challenge. A muskrat might eat a pout, but it would probably have to be dead already before they could get it.

Anybody know if they have a predator base, other than humans?

I am also going to go out on a limb and say that in the next few years, you will see a lot more people actually targeting them. I used to hate em, but now I welcome the thought of having a pout tugging on my line. They certainly give an awesome fight and not bad on the table if you do em right.

[Jim Hudson]

Here on the Great Lakes, burbot make up a good portion of the Lake Trout diet. Young of the year and a bit bigger. And am sure other trout species take advantage of them as well.

Pretty sure in lakes with out trout, other preadtors would take adavantage of them too, but more so when the pout are smaller. Musky, walleyes, or bigger pike probably use some of the larger ones for feed too (to an extent).

[GRH]

I've caught lake trout and pike that were spitting up eel pout. I would think walleyes & muskies would eat them to. Pout are a great fish, Fun to catch, good to eat, and one won me a truck last year.

[JigginIsLife]

little off topic but thought i would put it in there... crawfish actually dont go dormant durring the winter they just enter a small form of hibernation that has short durations where they will come out, eat and then nestle back down. I cought about 5 of them on a slow day out on leech on a flat near shore. guys thought i was nuts pullin in crawfish through the hole

[Down Deep]

Northern Pike eat pouts. I take part in an annual fall pike hunt on the English River north of Kenora. We only keep the pike that get hooked in the gills and won't survive if released and almost everyone has a pout in its gut.

[polarsusd81]

Thanks guys. I figured bigger varieties of gamefish would eat pout, but I know in most of the lakes I fish and have caught pout in, there are much better options for the gamefish diet.

GRH, I think I remember reading about you winning the truck last year with a pout. I bet they are your favorite fish now ehh? Wasn't that during the Mille Lacs DU contest out of Garrison?

[Bigeye30"]

I have read in some articles that perch will target the spawning grounds of the pout to feed on the eggs,

[cluelessfisherman]

I cleaned two perch this summer that had little pout in their stomachs (about 3"). Do the smaller pout stay shallower than the larger ones during the summer months? The perch came out of 3 feet of water and the pout were rather fresh.

[GRH]

Yeah that was at the DU contest on Mille Lacs, It moved them rite up there on the favorite list.