Summary
The Burton Fish has been around for many years and it's a great board for those more on the mid/wide side that want something dedicated for the deep stuff but it's also a pretty competent board when it comes to riding groomers as long as you are ok without that camber spring out of the turn.Where To Buy
No obligation, but these links support the site.
Burton UK
Burton UK
Burton Germany
Burton France
SnowCountry
PRFO Sports Canada
Burton Snowboards Canada
Riding Style | Powder |
Riding Level | Advanced - Expert |
Fits Boot size (US) | 10-12 |
Manufactured in | Austria |
Shape | Tapered Directional |
Camber Profile | Flat to Rocker |
Stance | Setback over 20mm |
Approx. Weight | Feels Light |
Split | No |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
|
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
On Snow Feel | |
Turn Initiation | |
Skidded Turns |
Flex | |
Buttering | |
Edge Hold |
Where To Buy
No obligation, but these links support the site.
Burton UK
Burton UK
Burton Germany
Burton France
SnowCountry
PRFO Sports Canada
Burton Snowboards Canada
Burton Fish 2018 - 2010 Review by The Good Ride
Ethics Statement: We don’t get paid by the manufacturer to write these reviews. We do make money from the “Where To Buy” links, but this is our best attempt at an honest and objective review from an average riders’ perspective.
How this review happened: We borrowed and returned this at a demo.
Size: 156
Days: 2
Conditions: 1.5-2 feet of thick sierra powder. One day of medium to hard spring snow.
Riders: James
Boots: Burton Fiend LTD, Burton Ion,
Bindings: Burton Cartel, Burton Genesis
Set Up: Set pretty far back approximately 23″ wide 18 front -6 back
Approximate Weight: Feels like it’s on the light side of normal but all boards aren’t consistent when it comes to weight.
Flex: Seems medium-ish. It’s snappy and semi-playful but doesn’t feel like too much of a butter board. It’s easier than you would think to butter and it’s great for a powder wheelie off the tail.
Sizing: For a size 9 boot the 156 is just too much board for me. I would have been much happier if they had the 151 for demo instead. I would not want to own the 156 for my specs. I felt like I just couldn’t manage to ride it like it was meant to be ridden.
On Snow Feel: Burton calls this Directional Flat Top which is flat from about the tail to a little past the front binding and then going up to full rocker. That means it tracks well when one footing off the chair or going down a long flat cat track. It also doesn’t feel that catchy or sketchy and just provides a stable ride.
Edge Hold: Like most Burton Flat-To Rocker it’s not that good if you have to get through a hard patch at the top of a windblown peak to get to the hard stuff. It really let’s go when the snow starts bordering on medium to hard.
Turn Initiation: Edge to edge transitioning is pretty easy for a mid-wide board but the Burton Fish doesn’t feel fast with my size 9 boots. It shows that even a turny sidecut can be slow if you got the wrong boot powering it. If you have more of a mid/wide boot it will be very quick and fun for darting in and out of tight tree runs. However, if you have boots like mine I’d say the turn initiation would be medium bordering on med/fast so it’s not going to blow your mind if you don’t match the specs it’s designed for.
Turning Experience: Not that great for those that like springy turns. It’s all about planning on top of powder as opposed to making all kinds of turns on groomers.
Carving: The Burton Fish is not bad on a carve but it’s boring compared to Burtons Directional Camber Rides. It’s doable but there just isn’t much spring out of the turn compared to all of the other Directional Camber Family Tree boards.
Skidded Turns: Very forgiving and easy to skid a turn. You don’t want to skid turns on this and it’s mainly for advanced to expert riders that can turn well off the tail in powder but you can skid out no problem if you need to.
Speed: The Burton Fish is fast enough for powder riding and I don’t think anything needs to be changed.
Uneven Terrain: If you match it with the right boot size the fish can weave in and out of moguls rather well. For me riding the 156, I’d pass. It did not inspire me to jam through some bumps on the way to a powder stash. Maybe the 151 would be the better call.
Powder: The Burton Fish turns powder riding into a cruisey way to surf powder. If you surfed a fish here you go. Most of the board will sit pretty high above the snow and really make it hard to sink. For us smaller boot riders like Peter and I, we would prefer to ride the larger volume of Panhandler 152 a little better but I think we could make the 151 Burton Fish easily work for us too. This is more geared for a mid/wide footed rider too so for me being a size 9 boot the 156 will feel pretty slow edge to edge. However, as you get past the 10+ range this will start to shine as a tree surfer. This short fatty has been around for a while now and a lot of people like it.
Buttering: I thought it would be easier to butter off the tail than it was but it’s still doable.
Switch: nah…..
Jumps: There is some snap off of the tail and it’s good for flat to rocker but I’d prefer the snap of boards like the Skeleton Key all day over the Fish. I wish they re-introduced some new form of directional flying V as they had with the Burton Barracuda because a little camber in the tail would be pretty fun.
Jibbing: nope.
Pipe: nah.
Bottom line is if you want a super surfy slashy pow board for a mid/wide foot this isn’t a bad choice.
Burton Fish Past Reviews
The 2012 Burton Fish hasn’t changed much from 2011 except Burton did bring back the 150cm size for smaller powder riders.
Burton Fish Specs
Burton Fish Images
Burton Fish User Reviews
Why is Fish so delicious.
Well as that ol' saying goes, you can never have enough boards in your quiver. So with that in mind as well as reading tons of positive reviews out there, I ended up grabbing an '18 Burton Fish 161 as I wanted a powder specific ride for my annual trips to Hokkaido. Scored really well on this deck at almost 40% off RRP due to it being last season stock..., lucky as. Being 191cm/96kg kitted up, the 161 (180 - 260lbs/82 -118kg) is a perfect fit for my size.
This year Burton only ran with the '19 Mystery Fish which feels absolutely mind numbingly gorgeous under arm when you pick it up, but at $Au2k RRP a pop, it's a really big financial ask.
Okay, let's look at what you get with the '18 Burton Fish. The first think you notice is it's got a whopping big fat nose and really short swallow tail. Burton gave the Fish a big 50mm of standard set back added in with 30mm of rear taper from the nose. This sets the Burton Fish purposefully up as a fully directional tapered ride. This is built in here allowing the Fish the ability of dreamy effortless float over the powder. I set my Fish up with '18 Genesis EST with even more setback at -10 front and -20 at rear. Angles are +15/-8 degrees. Waxed up with Hertal FC739 and riding on Burton SLX.
So jumping out of the Furano gondola the most noticeable thing you feel with the Fish on those first few runs is how friggin light and surfy the arse end of this board feels. Mate, it's just so damn easy to whack this baby around 180 degrees side to side. This makes the Fish so maneuverable around the mountain, on top of the powder and through the tree lines. It's also a really quick ride as well. The big volume of this board gives you plenty of area and you noticr it easily burns past other riders across the flats. Checking off that unwarranted speed is no big problem here as it's so easy to wash this momentum away with maneuverability.
The Fish is fitted with what Burton call their directional flat top camber profile that does a pretty solid job with edge hold on the firmer groomed piste. When laying super hard euro like carves over on its edge you can feel the Fish holding soooo tight to its physical limits and just allowing the generation of the faintest amount of side slippage. So the Fish is by no means in the same ballpark as say a Custom/Custom X as a pure carving machine but you'll find yourself still able to hold some pretty solid lines out of the powder stashes back to the lift bases.
The Burton Fish has a Carbon I-Beam™? through the middle which gives it just the right amount of directional flex you need. In my view it feels overall moderately stiff at around a 6 to 7 and slightly stiffer in the tail than the nose.
Anyway, when grabbing the Fish you're really after its ability to slay powder......, so how does it go here?
Well it's just freaking awesome.
And this is where the Burton Fish truly comes to life. You can instantly feel it's in its zone when you're banging it through the untouched powdery side pockets. The Fish really just eats these fresh areas completely up. I trekked and rode a couple of back country drop offs through lengthy fresh waist deep + powder and this thing floats like a feather. You look down and notice that big rocker in the nose beautifully plaining up that silky green nose out of the powdery deep gulping for air. With freeride boards you've generally got to be mindful of where your weight distribution is through the deep stuff even with a dialed back stance. The Fish mostly does this all for you. Forget that rear leg burn as you'll only going to get that from blasting powder showers all over yourself on every turn.
So the Burton Fish is one of those boards you'll instantly fall in love with from the first day of riding. It can carve a decent solid line but most importantly float like a real angel over powder. It's so damn surfy and maneuverable due to its directionally tapered flat top design.
The Burton Fish is a 100% keeper.
An easy 5 stars *****
Excellent Powder Board
I have a 2007 version of this board in a 160. I still ride it now on a full on powder day. It is brilliant - I can't recommend it enough. More smiles per mile than any other board. And when the powder has all gone and the conditions are heavy and bumpy it will still handle OK - runs on the flat easily.
Fish rips
We had a great season here in VT last year and rode this in pow a lot. If you want to make the most out of the deep days and have people screaming from the lift as you effortlessly surf and bang shiftys down untouched get a fish. You'll also ride all day because you don't get leg burn. And forget about ever sinking that nose. In the tight VT woods the shorter board with no tail makes a lot of sense. On groomers its ok. It ollies like crazy and has an epic slash
Where To Buy
No obligation, but these links support the site.