Favorite Bait

[doughtdawg]

I have been reading past posts and am going out cuskin saturday night and was just wondering what everybodys personal favorite/best bait for cusk.  I have fished for them before but not with great success which I am hoping for.  Ive read to use glow jigs, and bait right on bottom, and stinky bait... but what is your favorite bait? ALSO are cusk catchable in the summer? i have never seen nor heard of anyone catching a cusk in the summer...

[TGF]

Careful with the stinky bait. These are not catfsh guys. Burbot like fresh bait. I use pieces of baitfish or my favorite is squid (the tentacle end).

[Desperado]

Careful with the stinky bait. These are not catfsh guys. Burbot like fresh bait.

This advice from a guy who once caught a burbot on the "ultimate stinky" bait 

[TGF]

Ahhh yes but it was freshly pinched

[Desperado]

TMI
BMI
BUT
STILL
LMAO

[Water Wolf]

Squid for bait, hum neat O. How do you rig them? They are so squishy.
Are they an oily bait? 8)

WW

[TGF]

Just hook them above the tentacle arms after you have seperated the main body from tentacle section. The tentacles flutter out the back of your jig. Last the whole night when rigged up, gives off good smell. I don't find them oily. I buy the 3kg size frozen at supermarket, thaw them out, seperate and put 2-3 in smaller freezer baggies and refreeze. 3kgs should last you the whole winter. The big main body I cut in 1/4s lengthwise and use them too.
Left overs from winter I use for trolling for Kings/Chinooks instead of herring. Last a long time and fish seem to like it better

[Nitro_372]

use squid

[bulyearustler]

the best bait for the burbot is still the spagetti guts from a burbot, there is a big chunk
there so we usually cut it into four pieces rremember to leave the tough membrane on to
hook through it will stay on all day and the spagetti flutters when jigged and lays on the
bottom fanned out waiting for the next one  .. Give it a try

[TGF]

OK I'll give er a try. I'm always into testing something new. By the spaghetti part do you mean the esophagus/stomach part?

[jacksmelt71]

ive caught cusk 5ft. off the bottom on smelts in july before. i was targeting sal. and got a 5lb. cusk. its not a common occurance but they do bite in the summer.

[Barleydog]

AKDan,
I too like the mighty lamprey... for summer burbs.  I need to catch and freeze some for the winter harvest this year.  Some of the burbs caught through the ice are loaded with lamprey!  Otherwise, I like good old oily herring and smelt.  MMmmmm Good!

[Fishin Fireman]

  Got out for a little river fishing yesterday, no luck on jigging for burbot but I did get smart and leave a set which was pre-loaded with a piece of herring and a piece of whitefish. Just as I was leaving for the day and had to really hurry. You see, I got a call from my wife saying I got recalled to a fire at the powerplant on Ft. Wainwright. That was around 5:20 or so in the afternoon, needless to say I finally got home about 12 hrs later and got some sleep. I did go back this afternoon to retrieve my set and was I suprised to see my first winter burbot pop his head up thru the ice hole which completely made my day. The ice hole was not even frozen shut since I covered it with a piece of carpet and a pile of snow  . Now I'm gonna have to do it some more since the weather is a little nicer and the fish are bitting again. The burbot took the hook which was at the end of the set and had a piece of whitefish on it, guess that was the first thing he ran into that looked appetizing. I think I may have dribbled a little smelly jelley on it as well.
Pics to follow later

Barleydog, I caught him not far from the spot we went last part of the day.

FF