I am not sure if any of you listen to The Meateater podcast. They had a cool podcast they did while ice fishing in Alaska. They had some interesting discussions around Burbot. One of the most interesting things was that people in the widwest used to toss them on the ice just like they did here in NY.
They actually had a good theory as to why people originally started tossing them on the ice. The theory was that people ran tip ups a lot more and left them out overnight back in the day when that was legal. When a burbot would hit a tip up they would run the line out and then swim in circles often tangling up the other tip up lines.
http://www.themeateater.com/podcasts/ep-111-inside-the-dark-house/Some good discussions about cooking and eating burbot. Check it out.
