Burbot, Catching only females?

I've caught about a dozen burbot this year, and every single one has been a female. What gives?

For something like perch, it makes some sense that I end up cleaning mostly females just because of bias of keeping larger, chunkier fish, which tend to be female (and maybe females are more aggressive since they feed more to grow the eggs?). But for burbot getting females only makes less sense.

Do males and females travel in separate schools, or are the populations somehow not equal? FWIW these fish have all been caught in the span of the last couple of weeks, and the eggs were almost ready to go - which makes even less sense since males and females should be congregating together.

Has anyone else had this experience with burbot, or know the reason for this?

Is there anyone I could get in touch with at the MNR that would be willing to help me out with this question?

Thanks!

Male burbot- like a lot of fish - tend to be smaller than females. Love fishing for cusk but I don't keep/clean too many so can't say for sure. They've done some burbot studies in Lake Opeongo in Algonquin. Maybe send an email to the Harkness Lab and see what they say.

interesting

my Scott and Crossman fish bible book says the males arrive on the spawning grounds first

maybe the males are up waiting, and the males are more interested in reproducing rather than feeding?

Sounds about right! Reproduce then eat... my kind of party!
Serious though I'm going to try our shallow bay on Joe when it opens to see if there is any action down below.

I’ve caught ling before I know they are good tasting but I’ve always put them back what size would one measure before you would keep it for the table?

Not all of us consider them good tasting. I did try them but now release any I catch.

Let's go with 14"