2/01/2001
- Articles
They’re
Creepy and They’re Kooky
By Noel Vick with On Ice Tour
Often
disparaged, seldom celebrated.
They go by the name eelpout, burbot, ling, and lawyer;
technically, they’re freshwater cod.
In Minnesota, On Ice Tour’s home turf, eelpout is most
common.
The
bearded wonders are frequent byproducts of hardwater walleye and
lake trout trips. But
the time has come for eelpout to share or possibly steal the
limelight. And this is why…
Slimy
pound for slimy pound, eelpout are ice fishing’s most awesome
fighter. These are your
guys if battles and wars are true measures of hardwater experiences.
They
get big, really big. The
varieties of eelpout seen littered about the ice aren’t the ones
we’re after (killing ‘pout for any purpose other than
consumption is foolhardy and illegal).
10’s, 12’s, and 15’s exist, and we have ways of finding
them.
Eelpout
feed when others don’t. Walleye
activity peaks at dawn and dusk with sporadic runs overnight.
Eelpout are night owls.
Like thieves, they do their best work under the cover of
darkness.
The
dead of winter is their favorite time of year.
Eelpout party on when many gamefish seasons have closed and
panfish enter a mid-winter funk.
The snakelike critters actually spawn during February and
March. And when warming water temps stimulate species like
largemouth bass and bluegills, eelpout go nearly dormant - call it a
reverse biological clock.
Tastes
good when properly prepared. “Give
me a break,” you might be thinking.
Gourmet chef, Ineke Leer preaches the following: 1.) Place
your eelpout on its pale white belly and fillet its “back
straps” - trace the spine and rib cage.
2.) Skin each fillet. 3.)
Cube each fillet into two-inch chunks.
4.) Boil a pot of water.
5.) Drop the cubes into the pot.
6.) Remove the cubes when they turn white and flaky.
6.) Melt a bowl of butter and sprinkle in some fresh garlic.
7.) Dip and eat. You’ll
no longer regret the fact that lobsters live off the coast of Maine.
Home
on the Range
For
the most part, eelpout are fishes of big water. They’re also contained to the upper states and Canada,
which bodes well for ice anglers.
The Great Lakes and Lake of the Woods are famous for growing
obnoxiously large ‘pout.
Deepwater
is another common denominator.
Eelpout thrive, oxygen permitting, in depths of 30, 40,
50-feet and beyond.
According
to Tommy Skarlis, Chip’s On Ice Tour cohort, “Eelpout love deep
and hard-bottomed places. The
best ‘pouting holes are covered with sand or gravel.”
Deep
offshore humps top the charts.
Large and small, Chip and Tommy seek out humps that crest at
20 to 40-feet of water and are surrounded by seriously deepwater.
And forget about the breaklines, because time and time again
the fastest action occurs right on top.
The
base of fast breaking points and bars can also produce.
Set up camp right where the break levels off and becomes a
flat, again, not over the break itself.
“My
best eelpout spots double as late summer walleyes spots,” says
Chip. “I suppose
those depths are cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.”
Shallow
flats that adjoin a significant break are an exception to the rule.
Here, nocturnal eelpout roam depths of only 5, 10, and
15-feet of water.
Chip
says, “I see this happen on Leech Lake all the time. Shallow sand and gravel flats adjacent to the basin and ones
north of Walker Bay (an incredibly deep bay) kick out eelpout in the
middle of the night.”
Rigging
for ‘Pout
Fear
not size. Monstrous
eelpout have giant pie holes and voracious appetites.
But don’t work an oversized lure with vigor.
Yes, eelpout like big eats, but they favor slower motions.
Numero
uno in
Tommy’s book is a Hot Yellow/Glow Lindy Fuzz-E-Grub - jig weight
ranges from ¼ to 3/8th-once depending on depth.
A whole fathead is the meat on Tommy’s hook.
Chip
favors a Glow or Glow Rainbow Northland Fire-ball Jig.
With it, eelpout are drawn to a seemingly innocent lift and
fall, lift and fall-type jigging pattern.
Like Tommy, Chip also sticks a whole live minnow on his jig.
In
‘pouting, bright green, chartreuse, and glow are the only
recognized colors. And
if you hit the ice carrying only one jig, make sure it glows like
the dickens.
Noise
is another motivator. Occasionally,
Tommy abandons his jig in favor of a Lindy Rattl’r Spoon.
To it, he adds the severed front half of a minnow.
Jiggle, jiggle, jiggle…pause…whack!
The
wide profile of a Northland Fire-eye Minnow (Glow Perch or Glow
Rainbow) is Chip’s choice when he wants to spoon ‘em up.
Fluttering on a free fall, Fire-eye Minnows are well received
by eelpout. Chip boosts
its potential by threading two or three Buck-Shot Rattle Beads up
the line before tying.
“Glow
makes them go.” We
can’t stress this enough. There’s
never been a ‘pouting experience where non-glowing lures
outperformed glowing ones. So give ‘em a direct and extended blast of light.
Re-glow your lures every ten minutes or so if all’s quiet -
it will eventually pay off. And
you might want to experiment with Northland’s new Fire-Light Glow
Sticks…we’ll be using them this winter.
Both
Chip and Tommy maximize their resources by using a remote tip-up
while jigging. And dark
times call for bright measures.
Finicky’s Fish Factory - the reigning king of setlines -
signals biters by simultaneously unfurling a flag and tripping a
dual-bulb light. Below
it, the boys fix a single hooked, three or four-inch sucker minnow,
shiner, or chub.
Eelpout
struggle like sportfish so they need to be tackled with serious
equipment. The 36-inch,
medium-heavy Dave Genz Signature Lightning Rod gets the nod.
Genz’s baitcasting model offers the strength to bring
titans up, yet provides enough sensitivity to detect a “slurp”.
Team
the ultimate ‘pouting pole with a reliable and durable Abu Garcia
5500C3. Constructed
with steel and brass parts, these reels stand tall on the frozen
tundra.
Fill
your spool with a low-stretch superline such as Fireline Micro Ice.
The 10-lb. test/4-lb. diameter and 14-lb. test/6-lb. diameter
line weights can horse-up eelpout of any magnitude.
Mysterious.
Grotesque. Unwanted.
Whatever your preconceptions of eelpout, set them aside long
enough to give ‘pouting a chance.
Even their loudest critics will crack a smile after waging
war with a lunker.
On
Ice Tour is an intensive effort directed at expanding the sport of
ice fishing. Cofounders
Chip Leer and Tommy Skarlis offer public seminars and kid’s
clinics; appear at in-store events; exhibit at sport shows and ice
fishing competitions; broadcast a weekly radio show and conduct
hands-on product demonstrations.
On Ice Tour produces an annual ice fishing publication (On
Ice), and they can be found on the Internet at www.onicetour.com
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