Salt Cure for Loose Eggs from Salmon or Trout

Most salmon & trout anglers know that there are times when real salmon or trout eggs will far out-produce artificial egg patterns. Many anglers choose to freeze the loose eggs (roe) they get into small freezer bags, just enough for one outing. Others will "river" cure their eggs, which is a practice of rinsing and soaking the eggs in the river water for about 20-minutes before bagging and freezing them. While these methods work, the eggs are very sticky and messy to tie when thawed - and the thawing process takes time. I prefer to use either fresh eggs or cure my eggs so that I can store them in the fridge, and have non-messy eggs ready to tie at any moment. The fresh eggs will only last approximately 5 days in the fridge maximum, and then they will need to be freezed or cured. The egg-curing recipe below is a modified version that I got from a friend who is one of the best steelheaders I know - Joe Pasquini. I really liked Joe's cure, but found the eggs wouldn't last more than a few months in the fridge without starting to go "off". I worked on this cure for a while and finally came up with a version that I was happy with. The eggs will last years in a fridge, they are not messy to work with and can be tied into sacs easily in seconds without getting your hands dirty. The eggs also retain their natural scent and most importantly - the fish gobble them up like candy!

Take the eggs fresh from a fish and carefully rinse out the debris. Place the eggs in a wide glass or plastic container and fill with water to two-inches above the eggs. Saturate the water completely with iodized salt (regular table salt) until there is a little salt left on the bottom of the container - stirring very gently with your hand. Now add one teaspoon of brown sugar (optional for a little colour) and very gently stir again with your hand. Cover and let sit in the fridge for between 8- to 12-hours, gently stirring a few times throughout. After 8- to 12-hours, remove the container from the fridge and pour eggs into a strainer. IMPORTANT: do not rinse the eggs. Leave straining for at least 20-minutes, then put eggs directly in a Mason jar, seal and store in fridge.

Periodically check the bottom of the Mason jar for a build up of juice. Carefully drain the juice out of the jar and into a small eyedropper container and store in the fridge. This preserved juice is a natural scent that can be used on egg sacks (spawn bags), yarn, rubber eggs and flies.

Enjoy the recipe and good fishing!

Aaron Shirley

Salmon Skein Egg Cure

Many salmon anglers know that salmon skein is one of the best baits to use for salmon in the fall period. Salmon get the scent of the skeined eggs, and almost always have to eat it. This may seem strange to many anglers, as the fish start to shut down their metabolism and stop feeding in the fall as a part of preparing for the spawning process. I believe that the reason salmon eat the skeined eggs in the fall, is that they are programed to eat other salmon's eggs because they are competition, and they want to better the chances of their own offspring surviving. I got this recipe from an angler at the dock during a salmon tournament, and I really liked it... and consequently, so did the salmon!

Take the immature eggs (skein) from a fresh salmon and place the membrane side down (eggs up) on a work platform (this will get real messy and stain the work platform). Sprinkle the skein liberally with Pro Cure (natural or red and orange colours usually work best), making sure to get into all the cracks and crevices in the eggs. Let sit for one hour allowing the juices to form. Then shake off the juice the best you can and place on a drying rack or screen with the membrane up (eggs down) for several hours. Make sure you place something under the rack to catch all the juice, as it will drip down and stain whatever is below the rack. Now take the egg skeins and place them with the membrane down (eggs up) and shake Borax all over the egg skeins, getting into all the cracks and crevices, then place into zipped freezer bags. You can leave them in the fridge for several weeks, but you will have to put them in the freezer if you plan on using them the following year. When you go to use the eggs, cut a chunk from the skein to the desired size and shake off the borax powder then place in a snelled knot.