What pound test line?

I have an opportunity to go burbot fishing for the first time and was curious what pound test line to use?

Can you set line where your headed? If so it really doesn’t matter I have use marker nylon rope with 30lbs test mono a giant hook and head and guts of a rainbow. Leave it over night never fails but that’s just for a guaranteed meal while camping and perfect legal in alot of places. They really aren’t picky as long as it’s a good feed. But if your jigging I’d go lighter. Does the lake hold monsters I’ve seen set lines pull up 20+ lbs here but I’m north of 60

As a general rule matching the pound test to the biggest fish you plan on encountering is a good starting point.

There’s obviously times where you want to go far heavier, but also times you can get by with lighter.

I’ve caught some normal size burbot (for here that’s 3-8lbs) on 4lb mono through the ice. But if I was specifically targeting them here I’d go with 8-10lb line through the ice.

Are you using braid or mono? Through the ice or in the boat?
How deep are you fishing?

It will be mono through the ice and I don’t anticipate anything deeper than 30′. There was a tournament last weekend and the winner was 34.5″ long for biggest fish. I think that the 3 – 8 lbs. range is closer to the norm.

I don’t see a need for going heavier than 8 pound for eelpout. If you go to heavy with mono on an ice reel it gets pretty coily.

I have some 832 braid if that would be better than mono?

If you’re in a heated shack braid is fine.

Just don’t use it outside if it’s below freezing.