How to Catch Burbot (Eelpout) in Minnesota: Night Ice Fishing, Limits & Lakes

Burbot, known to most Minnesotans as eelpout, are a cold-water fish of the big northern lakes that you catch at night through the ice, on the bottom, with a glowing jig and a piece of minnow. Lake of the Woods, Leech, Mille Lacs, Cass and Winnibigoshish all have them. For generations they were treated as a nuisance and tossed on the ice; they are now classified as a game fish, and since March 1, 2025 there has been a statewide possession limit of 4.

Identification and habits

A burbot looks like a cross between a catfish and an eel:

• A long, mottled olive-brown body that tapers to a rounded tail.
• One barbel on the chin, the surest identifying mark. Catfish and bullheads have eight around the mouth.
• A short first dorsal fin and a very long second dorsal and anal fin running most of the way to the tail.
• Tiny embedded scales and a heavy slime coat, which is why a burbot will wrap its tail around your arm.

Burbot are the only freshwater member of the cod family on this continent and they behave like it. They want cold water, they spend summer deep, and they do something no other Minnesota game fish does: they spawn in mid to late winter, under the ice, at night, over sand, gravel and rock in fairly shallow water. That spawning movement is what brings them within reach of ice anglers. They are aggressive predators that eat perch, cisco, crayfish and almost anything else, mostly after dark.

Where burbot live in Minnesota

Burbot need deep, cold, well-oxygenated water, so they are a northern lake and big-water fish.

• Lake of the Woods. Home of the state record and probably the most consistent place to catch large ones, often while fishing walleye and sauger at night. See /lakes/lake-of-the-woods-county.
• Leech Lake. Walker Bay is deep, cold and the historical center of eelpout culture. See /lakes/cass-county.
• Mille Lacs, Cass, Winnibigoshish and Bemidji. Large lakes with reefs and breaks next to deep basins.
• Vermilion, Rainy, Kabetogama and the deeper Arrowhead lakes, including many lake trout lakes.
• Lake Superior, where burbot are caught around the Duluth harbor entries and along the North Shore in winter. See fishing near Duluth.
• Smaller deep, clear lakes such as Bad Medicine Lake in Becker County, which the DNR has cited in discussing burbot harvest pressure.

They are absent from the shallow, warm lakes of southern Minnesota, and the DNR has noted that warming lakes are a long-term concern for the species.

Season by season

Period	What burbot are doing	Fishing
Open water, May to October	Deep and cold, often below where most anglers fish	Rarely targeted; an occasional catch for lake trout and deep walleye anglers
Early ice, December	Moving up from the depths, feeding	Possible after dark on deep breaks, 30 to 50 feet
Midwinter, January to mid-February	Staging on breaks near spawning shoals	Good night bite on the edges of reefs and points
Late winter, mid-February to March	Spawning on shallow to mid-depth sand, gravel and rock at night	Peak. Fish can be very shallow after dark and bunched together
Ice-out and spring	Recovering and feeding in cold shallows briefly, then heading deep	A short window from shore on big rivers and Lake Superior

Peak burbot fishing overlaps with deteriorating late-season ice and with the dates when permanent shelters must come off the lakes. Check Minnesota ice thickness safety and plan on a portable shelter in March.

Techniques and rigs

Finding them

Set up where a reef, point or sunken hump breaks into the deep basin. Before sunset, fish the base of the break in 30 to 50 feet. As it gets dark, move up onto the top and upper edge of the structure, sometimes as shallow as 10 to 20 feet during the spawn. If you were catching walleyes there at dusk, stay put; the burbot often show up an hour later.

The pound-and-hold

1. Tie on a heavy glow jig or spoon, 3/8 to 3/4 ounce. Glow paint matters at night and in deep water; recharge it with a light every few drops.
2. Tip it generously: a whole minnow, several minnow heads or a chunk of cut bait. Scent helps.
3. Drop to the bottom and thump the lure into it several times to kick up sediment and make noise.
4. Lift it a few inches and hold still, or just let it lie on the bottom. Most bites come on the pause.
5. The bite feels like weight, not a tap. Set the hook hard and keep steady pressure. Burbot roll and twist on the way up.

The second line

Two lines are legal through the ice on most Minnesota lakes. Put a dead or live minnow on a plain glow hook or a rattle reel right on the bottom in a second hole. Burbot are not shy about a stationary bait.

Gear

• Rod: A medium to medium-heavy ice rod, 30 to 36 inches. These are strong fish and the lures are heavy.
• Line: 8 to 12 pound monofilament or 10 to 15 pound braid with a fluorocarbon leader.
• Lures: Glow jigs, heavy glow spoons and rattle spoons. Bring a small UV or headlamp to charge them.
• Hole size: 8 inches or larger. A big burbot has a wide head and will coil at the bottom of the hole.
• Other: Grab the fish firmly behind the head to land it. Bring a rag for the slime and a lantern, because this is night fishing.

General ice gear and shelter rules are covered in the Minnesota ice fishing guide and on /ice-fishing.

Minnesota burbot regulations for 2026

Verified against the 2026 Minnesota DNR fishing regulations, effective March 1, 2026 through February 28, 2027:

Rule	Statewide inland waters
Season	Continuous
Possession limit	4
Minimum size	None

What changed, and why it matters:

• Game fish status. Burbot were long classed as rough fish with no protection. The legislature reclassified them as a game fish a few years ago, putting them on the same footing as walleye and pike. Leaving unwanted eelpout to freeze on the ice, once common, is not acceptable; release them alive or keep them and use them.
• The limit is new. The DNR added the 4-fish limit effective March 1, 2025, as part of a package of limits for species that previously had none. The agency pointed to growing angler interest in burbot, signs of heavy harvest on some lakes and the species' sensitivity to warming water.
• Border waters differ. The 2026 border waters tables for North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin waters still group burbot with species that have no limit. On Canada border waters, inland limits apply to species not listed.
• Methods other than hook and line have their own rules. Read the current booklet first.

This is a regulation that has moved recently and could move again. Confirm it each season. See Minnesota fishing limits.

State record

The DNR state record fish program lists the certified weight record burbot at 19 pounds 10 ounces and 33 inches, caught on Lake of the Woods near Baudette on December 19, 2016.

A Minnesota tradition, with caveats

For roughly forty years the International Eelpout Festival turned Walker Bay on Leech Lake into a temporary town each February, with elaborate ice encampments and a contest for the biggest eelpout. The organizers canceled it in 2020, citing rising costs and an impasse over cleanup and enforcement on the lake. Its status in the years since has not been consistent, so do not assume it is running. Contact the Leech Lake Area Chamber of Commerce for the current situation.

The lasting change is in attitude. The festival, and a generation of anglers who actually ate the fish, turned the eelpout from a punchline into a species people drive north to catch.

Handling, release and the table

• To release: Burbot caught shallow during the spawn release well. Unhook in the water or right at the hole, avoid squeezing the belly, and slide the fish back headfirst. Fish from deep water may show signs of pressure stress, so limit catch and release when fishing deep.
• Do not waste them. If you do not want a burbot, release it alive. If you keep it, use it.
• To clean: There are no usable fillets along the ribs. Skin the fish, then remove the two long loins along the backbone and the tail section.
• To cook: Cut the loins into chunks, simmer them for a few minutes in salted water (some add a little sugar or lemon-lime soda) until they firm up and turn white, and serve with melted butter. They also fry well.

Bottom line

• Fish after dark, on the bottom, on structure next to deep water, from late January until the ice gets unsafe.
• The limit is 4 and burbot is a game fish. Both facts are recent, and both are worth rechecking each year.
• Keep a couple to eat. Most people who try boiled eelpout stop throwing them back.