Drifter,

I have tried several egg preps over the year and like everyone else have my favorites. Air drying with salt, sugar, borax, and most recently sodium sulfite/sugar. I can tell you that all of the above cures catch fish.

If one is particularly into the aesthetic part of the whole thing then the sodium sulfite/sugar combo is hard to beat. The eggs turn out perfect, very colorful and kinda rubbery; they stay on the hook while maintaining realism. The sodium sulfite (poison by the way) may be obtained from most photography shops, mix equally with sugar and then sprinkle on the eggs. Unless your preparing a ton of eggs, several cups of sodium sulf will last you a long time. I lay the eggs on paper towels (room temp) to dry, turning them once. It takes a day to dry them, usually not more (unless the skeins are exceptionally large). I typically store my eggs in plastic food containers and cut them as I fish. Try it, I guarantee you will be satisfied with the results.

Happy Angling.

jed