Greetings,

A buddy told me that Pro-cured Roe is harmful/fatal to smolts. Any truth to that?
I thought it was B.S., why would they allow a such a thing, but he insisted it was true.

Also, how long are cured eggs effective before they spoil, and how many times can they be defrosted. (The first thing I question when the fish ain't biting is the eggs).

Thanks Mike S

I doubt that Procure is great for smolts, but I also bet that it leeches out of the eggs into the water pretty quickly. I don't see a lot of smolts floating belly up during steelhead season, which one would expect if Procure or Borax was immediately toxic. I'm not sure, but I imagine that the main ingredient in procure is probably sodium sulfite, which won't kill right off in small quantities.

As to how long the eggs keep, I have defrosted and frozen eggs as many as a dozen times and caught fish. It's not optimal, but they catch fish. Generally I freeze them if they're going to sit for more than a week in the refrigerator before I go fishing again. They'll start getting a stale egg smell when they start getting old.

Mike-

Don't know about the smolt fatility issue. However, I wouldn't put pro-cure on my own food.

Re-freezing eggs: I have never re-froze eggs.

Egg cures are top secret. I know several and if you're willing to cover a weeks worth of motel rooms and beer in Gold River, B.C. that would be a good start.

I will share this. I've caught a lot of steelhead on Pautzke's Balls-O-Fire eggs made into spawn bags. They last so long they have a half-life, not a shelf life. They don't work any better or worse than other eggs. This just allows me to save my good eggs for salmon.

Spawn sacks? Heck, I couldn't tell you how many steelies I hooked as a kid tossing single and double-egged hooks for trout. Of course getting anywhere close to landing them was a different story.