Does anyone know how the eggs that are sold at local tackle shops in Wash. Or. are cured? I am referring to the eggs that come in a clear plastic container and are sold out of the refrigerator. These eggs milk out pretty well, have good color and hold up well in the freezer. I wanted to cure some of my own up like this but so far I haven't had much success.

try 1/2 cup of borax 1/2 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of sugar in 1 quart of water dissolve it and leave the eggs in for at least an hour(i leave them in for 2, it makes them tougher). i love this recipe. in fact im gonna do some tonite.
tyler
P.S. has anyone ever used the red borax? i just bought some.

Maybe if Lund or Archer read this post they will tell you the commercial procedure - but not their actual cure ingredient secrets. They almost always involve a preservative such as sodium sulfite for necessary tackle shop fridge shelf life. I have watched one of the best commercial egg cure operations in action, and they use a dry powder chem cure in large vats of eggs they usually get from large hatchery bid sales. Then they dry them out to some degree and pack as is; and some are packed in borax.

Some companies also use brine cures. I like the brine ingredient ratio posted above by Tyler for steelhead (I assume the salt is non-iodine). Then dry them out to toughen them for fast water steelheading and pack them in borax. For salmon fishing brine cure I suggest adding to the above - 1/4 cup of Pro Glo red coloring powder, 1/2 cup sodium sulfite, and dilute it all well in distilled water. You can also put in additional bite enhancing ingredients such as MSG (and several others you can find with the search feature). Don't dry these as much as steelhead fishing eggs. You want them to milk out well and look/feel natural in a larger cluster for chinooks in slower water than steelhead fishing.

RT

steelhead bite on a site, so the actuall cure is not as important as good color. salmon are more sensative to smell, and salmon are also color blind! most of the time steelhead will bite a corky just as well if not better than eggs, unless the water is dirty.

I believe your talking about D + G eggs, they're the ones that come in the plastic containers. I'm not exactly sure what cure they use but I believe it's a heavy sodium sulfite, a lot of salt, dye, this way they do preserve longer considering they have a long shelf life, they also drain the eggs in the middle of the curing process to produce that gummybear texture. I'd rank store bought eggs behind sandshrimp and would recommend the shrimp especially for winter steelhead.

Or if you get a fresh skein of eggs I'd recommend (Ultimate Egg Cure when it's ready) but pro-glo or pro-cure are great cures also. Follow the curing instructions on the label. Just make sure to clean the blood from the eggs before curing them.
Hope this helps.
Keith

Keith why clean the blood out? Does it go bad faster or not get cured by the sulfite? Steelhead like blood!!

RT: how many pounds of eggs are you curing to use the quantity of ss and dye. I just put up 6 nice skeins of eggs and used just about 1/2 teaspoon of the dye you mentoned in about 16 oz of water. This was more than enough to have them colored up a deep color.

Just asking...seems like a lot ...

Giz...

Whoa Giz - you are right! I had a brain fart there and was thinking for a gallon of distilled water when I said a quater cup of the Pro Glo coloring. Thanks for catching that. It's really strong stuff! ... I would say though that a half teaspoon of it per quart (which is about a tablespoon per gallon) is a little weak for coloring 'nook fishing eggs the way I like them. But I mostly use the dry chem curing process for nook fishing eggs, and modified borax type curing for steelhead fishing eggs.

RT

Challenged, the reason you want to clean the blood out of the eggs before curing them is the blood will actually start to rought over time and eventually break the eggs texture down over time.. If you can get all the blood out before curing them then your eggs will stay good in the freezer and look 100 times better and cleaner when fishing them.
Keith