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Best burbot lakes in Manitoba

8 Manitoba waters hold burbot, 8 mapped with real state-agency depth surveys. 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. Falcon Lake — 79 ft max · survey depth data · Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Yellow Perch, Brown Trout
2. Wanipigow Lake — 16 ft max · survey depth data · Walleye, Sauger, Northern Pike, Yellow Perch
3. West Hawk Lake — 394 ft max · survey depth data · Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Northern Pike, Lake Trout
4. Black Lake — 20 ft max · survey depth data · Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Northern Pike, Yellow Perch
5. Jessica Lake — 10 ft max · survey depth data · Largemouth Bass, Walleye, Northern Pike, Yellow Perch
6. Booster Lake — 39 ft max · survey depth data · Walleye, Northern Pike, Yellow Perch, Burbot
7. Whitefish Lake — 59 ft max · survey depth data · Walleye, Northern Pike, Yellow Perch, Lake Trout
8. Neso Lake — 39 ft max · survey depth data · Walleye, Northern Pike, Yellow Perch, Burbot

When to fish burbot in Manitoba

• 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 Manitoba: best smallmouth bass lakes · best walleye lakes · best northern pike lakes · best yellow perch lakes · best lake whitefish lakes · best cisco (lake herring) lakes

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