Fish of the Year: Burbot, as a species, earns FOTY honors

Jeremy Preucel holds a near-record burbot caught last week during the first Chicago Lakefront Beer, Bourbon and Burbot Festival. | burbot, fishing, Chicago Lakefront Beer, Bourbon and Burbot Festival, outdoors

Burbot make an easy pick for Fish of the Year.

Two Illinois records (and near-records) came this fall. More important, burbot put excitement into late-season lakefront fishing.

Last week, Dale Rehus held the first Chicago Lakefront Beer, Bourbon and Burbot Festival with a handful of anglers. A young angler to remember, Jeremy Preucel, took honors with a burbot ounces off the Illinois record.

‘‘If things go according [to plan], I should be on track for the next one,’’ Preucel messaged.

Saro Kevorkian holds his burbot after weighing on Dec. 7, 2020 at Park Bait to be the next Illinois record.

Two state records were caught near Diversey Harbor in less than a month.

Saro Kevorkian caught the standing record Dec. 7. He said he was fishing with a gob of wax worms. Weighing 11.78 pounds on Park Bait’s certified scale, it was 33 inches long with a girth of 15.5 inches.

Kevorkian’s burbot topped the previous record (9.68 pounds), which was caught by Luc van Brenk on Nov. 18, by more than two pounds.

Luc van Brenk caught the first Illinois-record burbot in 2020 on Nov. 18.

Probably because of the changing food web on Lake Michigan, burbot record-keeping in Illinois is recent. Capt. Tim Wojnicz caught the inaugural Illinois record (8.85 pounds) on April 27, 2012, off Waukegan.

‘‘As far as burbot go, it’s exciting to see that record being broken somewhat frequently!’’ emailed Mike McClelland, Illinois’ fisheries chief. ‘‘We probably do not have a need to regulate burbot at this time. Burbot is not a common target species, and the limited catch by anglers does not yet warrant management.’’

But more anglers are targeting burbot, not just in Illinois but also in southeastern Wisconsin.

Steve Palmisano at Henry’s Sports and Bait said anglers are night-fishing with golden roaches on three-way rigs (swivel, weight and leader with the roach).

Rebecca Redman, an advanced natural-resources specialist from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, certified Kevorkian’s burbot. She said burbot, a cold-water fish (generally deep-water), come near shore in the fall as the water cools and may stay through spring. Where they spawn in winter/early spring is a mystery.

She said they eat fish, eggs and are ‘‘opportunistic feeders,’’ which anglers who have cleaned burbot know from stomach contents.

Burbot make good table fare, as their multiple names hint: poor man’s lobster, lawyer, eelpout, lingcod and mud shark.

Cleaning them is similar to doing a catfish. Bigger ones can be filleted; smaller ones may be steaked.

‘‘Wouldn’t it be great if burbot replaced smelt as a lakefront group thing?’’ Rehus messaged. ‘‘I remember the lantern lights all up and down the lakefront.’’

Saro Kevorkian prepares to release his Illinois record burbot back into Lake Michigan on Dec. 8.

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