For many years some of the top rods used nothing but borax. I know bill Herzog still does to this day. Nick Amato and I have spent years trying to learn Clancy's secret cure. I do know that he changes his cure with the species of eggs he has, the species he is targeting etc. i agree that 95% of it is to handle the eggs carefully and not to use too much cure.

I have a brine cure that Paul Buprea taught me years ago. I seldom use it as it’s a lot of work, but the eggs sure come out pretty. I know that Clancy sometimes brines his eggs as well. I will dig through my old puter files and see if i can find the brine recipe.

One last thought – the real old time steelheaders often used fresh eggs. When steelhead were abundant they would kill the first hen they caught and then fish fresh eggs the rest of the day