01-17-2013, 05:49 PM
Based on my past experience working with and catching burbot in the Gorge, I think they are staging or spawning right now. Most of our fish we caught the other night were small so I expect many of the larger fish, especially females, are somewhere spawning. In the last few years of working the Burbot Bash, which is usually held the end of January, most of the big fish are spawned out.
With the tag recapture data we've collected over the last couple years, there seems to be a trend showing burbot moving towards and up into the inflows (Black's Fork and Green Rivers) during the spawning time frame. Some have moved several miles in just a few days. Utah State University researchers tagged 32 large burbot this year and are tracking their movement in the reservoir using radio telemetry and started tracking those fish this week. Hopefully the data they collect will provide biologists and anglers with a better idea of where burbot move to spawn including specific locations and the type of habitat they select.
I suspect you may find spawning locations further up the river arms. In general burbot spawn under the ice, in shallow water, in mass aggregations, with no nest preparation or care for eggs.
Hope that helps some, Ryno
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With the tag recapture data we've collected over the last couple years, there seems to be a trend showing burbot moving towards and up into the inflows (Black's Fork and Green Rivers) during the spawning time frame. Some have moved several miles in just a few days. Utah State University researchers tagged 32 large burbot this year and are tracking their movement in the reservoir using radio telemetry and started tracking those fish this week. Hopefully the data they collect will provide biologists and anglers with a better idea of where burbot move to spawn including specific locations and the type of habitat they select.
I suspect you may find spawning locations further up the river arms. In general burbot spawn under the ice, in shallow water, in mass aggregations, with no nest preparation or care for eggs.
Hope that helps some, Ryno
[signature]