Ling!

[429421Cowboy]

Who here is crazy enough to fish for these bad boys? They taste great and are a blast to fish for, i love night fishing with a big fire rolling and just kick back and wait to catch poor man's lobster! And they are so crazy looking with their eel like body and the way they wrap aound your hand when you go to unhook them. Makes you wonder who the first guy was to actually decide to eat one, or why he ever told anybody how good they were (hey, more for me, right??).

So what are your voodoo tactics to catch them? For us it mostly means getting to the hole first and with enough firewood to last all night, if they are biting it seems like worms work just as well as sucker meat or chicken livers, and we have tried them all.
Then it's as simple as nailing their heads to a board, peal their hide with a pair of pliers, strip the loins, boil and dip in butter, yummy!

[tomme boy]

Are you talking about a Burbot?

[429421Cowboy]

Yep! Ling, burbot, freshwater cod, Lota Lota, all the same to me Techically it is a burbot, but everybody here calls them ling.

[swheeler]

Smelt works just fine for eelpout but catch most off a crawler on bottom.

[swheeler]

Cowboy where you catching the ling at? or is it a secret

[MT Gianni]

I have never caught one big enough to eat. I usually get the 16" ers that go back. I keep hoping for something that is not all head. Having said that mine are incedental catches while ice fishing rather than the all nighters in the summer.

[429421Cowboy]

Aww heck I'm not one of those guys that is a pain in the butt about my fishing spots! Even ling, which alot of people get downright cranky about! Not sure how familiar you are with the Missouri? But we are fishing a ways below Holter dam, we have a spot that works well but it is public so we have to beat the crowd which can be hard since i am in school so i can't really go weeknights!

So far all we have caught are the little ones, they do have to get some size to them before they have any real meat to them. I have heard stories about them spawning under the ice and how crazy it can be to catch them through the ice, but never have caught any that way! I was talking to our local warden last night, she siad they are setting ling traps in a certain part of the river, i said that seems like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, it might be awful tempting for one of them to see a whole trap full of ling and not wind up with any in their freezer!

[tomme boy]

We are supposed to have them here on the Mississippi River where I am at. But my uncle commercial fished for 55 years, and I asked him about them last night. He said he has never caught one. He said he caught a bunch of ells though.

They really look like what we call Dogfish. Or a Bowfin. Boy do these fight. Never heard of anyone eat one though.

[MT Gianni]

Tomme, the back fillets out and they are known as poor mans lobster in MT.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

we call them dog fish you can eat them

[swheeler]

Then it's as simple as nailing their heads to a board, peal their hide with a pair of pliers, strip the loins, boil and dip in butter, yummy!

Cowboy I fillet them just like any other fish, no skinning or gutting needed. I do like the meat battered and fried or boiled, drained served with melted butter, it is the wifes favorite I'll take walleye or perch.

[429421Cowboy]

Where do you usually go for them? Everybody i have talked to in our area has been catching 10-12" "hammer handles", i haven't seen a good sized one yet this season! We went out last night and caught 7 small ones along with 2 catfish and a nice trout, i really would like to start catching eatin' size fish soon!

[swheeler]

Below Canyon Ferry, upper Holter gates area and Lakeside area of Hauser. They seem to be babies here, although most are over 2 feet, if not they go back. Garrison and Trenton both have some real ones in them and a half tail fillet does boil up like a small lobster tail. Get a bag of frozen smelt, the smaller ones for up here 3-4" and hook under the dorsal fin with a #4(tandom rig works fine too and may up the odds of a good hook), lay on bottom with a loose line. WD40 seems to have an effect on them too, as does fish oil attractant. Good luck and good eaten.

[swheeler]

Thats a 24 inch rainbow next to ling caught on smelt in broad daylight, and yes a baby one but still tasted good.

[MT Gianni]

That would be a nice ling down here Scott. There are some in the Beaverhead lakes.

[swheeler]

Gianni; Clark Canyon Res. used to have some nice ones, don't know anymore. Garrison during spawn(jan-feb?) would be worth a trip if I was after large ling, quite a drive though for few days ice fishing.

[454PB]

It's funny, I lived, fished and worked at Hauser Dam for 30 years and never saw a Ling. The old timers told me that there used to be a lot of them below Hauser, and now I'm hearing that they are back.

When I was a kid, we fished for Ling on the Yellowstone near Miles City.

[MT Gianni]

Yes Clark Canyon was the place I didn't really want to put into print. There are some nice ones if you can hook 'em.

[William Yanda]

Tomme, the back fillets out and they are known as poor mans lobster in MT.

yeah, and I hear you have mountain oysters out there too.
Bill

[swheeler]

yeah, and I hear you have mountain oysters out there too.


Bill

That would be Rocky Mountain Oysters and they are a ball.