Cusk are the odd, wonderful outlier of the Gulf of Maine bottom. A solitary member of the cod family with a long, eel-like body and a single continuous dorsal fin, they live on the deepest, rockiest bottom and are usually caught as a prized bonus while fishing for cod and haddock. On the plate they are superb.
How to identify them
Cusk are unmistakable: a stout, elongated, eel-like body, usually brownish or yellowish, with a single long dorsal fin running most of the back, a rounded tail, and a chin barbel. Nothing else on the bottom looks quite like them.
Where and when
Cusk are a deep-water, hard-bottom fish, holding on the rockiest ledges and rockpiles of the Gulf of Maine, deeper than much of the cod and haddock. They are solitary, so you tend to pick them one at a time off the gnarliest structure.
Tip Fish the rockiest, snaggiest bottom you can find, and be ready to lose some rigs. Cusk live where other fish do not, tight to rough structure, so if you are not occasionally hanging up, you are probably not on cusk ground.
How to catch them
Cusk are a bait-on-the-bottom fish. A stout rig with clam, crab or cut bait fished right in the rocks is the way, often on the same drops as cod and haddock. They fight like heavy dead weight coming up from the deep.