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Best burbot lakes in Alaska

8 Alaska waters hold burbot. Ranked below by size and depth-data quality — open any water to see exactly where to fish it: depth contours, scored spots with plain-English reasons, seasonal windows and bait picks. The freshwater cod that feeds at night under the ice — ugly, delicious and wildly underrated.

1. Becharof Lake — 594 ft max · Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Coho Salmon, Lake Trout
2. Paxson Lake — 89 ft max · Chinook Salmon, Lake Trout, Lake Whitefish, Burbot
3. Chelatna Lake — 410 ft max · Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon
4. Crosswind Lake — 128 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Lake Trout, Burbot
5. Summit Lake — 214 ft max · Chinook Salmon, Lake Trout, Lake Whitefish, Burbot
6. Big Lake — 89 ft max · Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Burbot, Arctic Char
7. Tonsina Lake — 295 ft max · Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Lake Trout, Burbot
8. Byers Lake — 177 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Lake Trout, Burbot, Arctic Grayling

When to fish burbot in Alaska

• Spring 25–70 ft — Post-spawn burbot slide back toward deep basins but still run shallow rock after dark.
• Summer 50–120 ft — Deep and sluggish in warm months — mostly a bycatch while jigging deep structure for lake trout.
• Fall 30–80 ft — Feeding picks up hard as the water cools — dead bait or glow spoons on deep rock at night.
• Winter 15–60 ft — Late-winter spawners stack on rock humps and shoals — glow jigs pounded on bottom after dark.

Also in Alaska: best northern pike lakes · best rainbow trout lakes · best chinook salmon lakes · best coho salmon lakes · best lake trout lakes · best lake whitefish lakes · best arctic grayling lakes · best arctic char lakes

Burbot elsewhere: Minnesota · New Hampshire · Montana · Wyoming · Manitoba · Alberta