In Michigan, you dont find eelpout, burbut, lingcod, whatever you want to call them in anything but the great lakes, or tributaries to the great lakes. I think part of the problem is that our inland lakes are not big enough...plus, no one PLANTS eelpout on purpose like they do pike, bass, or trout, so they dont ever make it into the big inland lakes.
Around here, very few fisherman have heard of eelpout (except those that fish Bay De Noc), and those that have still consider them a garbage fish. Bay De Noc has a huge gobie problem. The gobie is a oriental species (which resembles a mudpuppy) that lives by eating the eggs from nests of other fish, particularly Walleye in Bay De Noc...burbot are a natural slayer of gobies. I've caught burbot with as many as fifteen gobies in it's stomach. Fisherman should be smart enough to put these fish back in the water if they are not going to eat them. Most of the time you see them laying on the ice dead and abandoned for the seagulls to eat.
