I have two questions. First, how do you folks keep your eggs from freezer burning? The second is how do you dry your eggs out if they are to wet when you unthaw them.

I avoid freezer burn by vacuum packing my eggs. I have an older Food Saver that I can control the amount of negative pressure in the bags so as not to burst the eggs. I also cure my eggs with salt to keep them firmer. I let them dryout a bit prior to packing (I like the egg surface tacky). If you use pro-cure just let the eggs set out and dry out a bit (even 2-4 days if necessary). If you use borax pack the eggs in 3-4" long clusters and pack in more borax to aid in drying out. This winter I've caught fish with eggs packed in June of 1996. The secret is removing as much oxygen as possible from the packing media. I've heard of guys lighting a piece of paper in a jar (jar stored eggs) and putting the lid on as another way to remove the oxygen. Good luck. Email if you need more details.

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