a freind called me last night and has a freind in ak.with 3 five gallon buckets full of sockeye salmon eggs frozen uncured.he asked if i wanted a bucket of them.my experience with frozen uncured eggs has'nt been good.does anybody know if and how these eggs could be made salvageable when they get here.scott

i would be interested also about being frozen, i've been told once frozen befor being cured the eggs become crystlized and tend fall apart after being thawed correct me if i'm wrong,

scott,

Uncured, frozen eggs will last about 2 casts before they milk out. Freezing them before curing allows the ice crystals that form to pierce the egg membrane. Once this happens, they will milk out super fast.

All may not be lost.

Since sockeye eggs are typically smaller, they have a higher skein to egg mass ratio. Also, if these eggs came from commercially caught fish in the saltchuck, they will be even smaller. This means there is more there to hold them together.

I'd take a bucket and cure a handful. Whatever cure you use, make it a bit more concentrated and leave it on 30% longer than you usually so. Then test them out.

If it works, big bonus on the bait scene. Sockeye eggs are money, just hard to come by. If it doesn't work, well, then you've got fifteen pounds of chum for trout/kokanee fishing on the lakes that allow chumming.

Maybe you can make some soup?

You can also use the eggs as a scent. Mash them up and:

1. Mix it with vaseline. You'll wonder why you ever spent $4 for Smelly Jelly.

2. Soak cluster sized chunks of a tight kitchen sponge, pink or white, or whatever color, and use them as bait. They're not as good as eggs, but they're a lot better than nothing, and they've saved a few of my baitless fishing days.

Whattayagot2lose?

Fish on...

Todd.

I've had great success over the last few years vacuum sealing uncured eggs before I freeze them. I pulled out some sealed King eggs from last summer, thawed them and then cured them and they turned out awesome. Just try to get as much moisture off those eggs as possible before you seal them. Freeze them immediately when you get home from your day of fishing!

Good Luck!

Bobber Down

"Keep your hooks sharp!"

I've also had great luck with frozen eggs before curing. I pretie all my bags before the trip and mash some up and throw them in the bag with the sacks....Last just as long as the store bought eggs. Get them....you can't go wrong in my book......