My uncle caught one in a creek on a Vibrax spinner, we were salmon fishing and at the time I had no clue what it was and threw it back.
Caught and ate many through the ice later. Good eating fish.
That's pretty much exactly what I did too. Fishing for Salmon at the mouth of Montana creek and hooked this ugly looking fish I had no Idea what it was.
We were at either Montana or Willow creek where it flows in, can’t remember but same river anyway.
Caught many back in the 70's ice fishing mostly at night using white fish for bait on set lines. I also found their liver to be tasty and I don't like liver usually.
We get a lot of them commercial fishing for whitefish—problem is they go mushy pretty fast—even packed in ice so they need to be eaten right after catching them
At our cabin in the remote northern B.C. bush, we fish for burbot in deep cold lakes in the summer with set lines baited with trout heads and left in deep water ( 50' - 150') over night. It's a traditional way of fishing for them in this area. They are highly prized since they are the ONLY white fleshed fish that is generally available to anglers here. A nice and delicious change form trout and salmon.
I was fishing out of Henderson Harbor in Lake Ontario in the early 80s and caught one. I was on the Harbor side of Snowshoe bay where there is a narrow passage under a bridge to gain access to the main lake. It hit a lure. I reeled it in and marveled at this strange fish. I released it. My older cousin Casey Converse, who had fished the area his whole life, told me what it was and said it was great to eat.