Back in the day...................We went to the camera store and bought sodium sulfite.
Put it in an old Johnys Seasoning shaker.
Cut skeins into baits.
Laid them on a sloped piece of glass so the egg juice ran away from the cluster slightly.
Sprinkled, waited until glazed on that side, turned, repeat.
Getting them a tad over dry on the outside was desirable.
Then put them all in a zip lock bag or jar.
They would then soften some and be perfect.
These throttled the steelhead and springers.

Keep in mind this was back when you counted the concrete panels at the launch to know what runs you wanted to fish that day.....................
AND
there were fish.