My brine is 1/2gal water, preferabally seawater but tap is O.K. Add a couple handfuls of rocksalt, handfull of powdered milk or couple drops of blue dye for shine. I like to put my herring in plugged but still frozen. and refrig overnight. After about a week in the brine the herring are really rubbery and get the wrinkles you talked about, but I havn't noticed any difference in effectivness for blackmouth, kings or silvers.
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