Interested to know how you all deal with the various commercial powdered cures (in distinct contrast to those cures in which the skeins are dipped in to a bath of cure).

Just like in dry-brining salmon for the smoker, these cures will cause lots of juice to exude from the eggs. A lot of the cures will tell you to let the eggs juice up for 30 minutes to an hour then have you pour off the juice.

Why would you want to do this? It seems counter-productive to throw out the very stuff that will allow the eggs to milk out when they are being fished. Not to mention that the berries are shrunken like soft raisins.

I have found that if you leave the eggs in the juice over the next 24-48 hrs, virtually all of the juice will reabsorb back into the eggs, leaving you with firm large round berries. These eggs can't be beat when fished fresh.

My question is does the egg with maximum turgor suffer in terms of storage life in the freezer? Compared to eggs cured with the juice poured out after an hour, are they more prone to rupture when they are subsequently thawed out?


Parker, Keith (stlhdr1).... any words of wisdom?

I for one dont poor the juice off.. i like to leave the eggs in the jar in the juice and just keep them in the fridge.. i dont like to freeze my eggs.. keeping them in the juice helps them milk real good in dirty color water.. i do alot of plunking...

I also let my skeins soak in it's own juice to obsorb all that good stuff when curing.
Then I vacuum pack them and keep them in the freezer because I don't have extra frige to keep them in...
Yes, I need to go get one.
Doc, I've had good sucess curing my eggs this way.
Good Luck!

I do exactly what Summer Run said.

Once cured, I let them dry for an hour or so to remove any excess juice, then wrap them up in Paper towels to keep the plastic vacuum-pack from making direct contact with the eggs. Then freeze, then vacuum-pack once frozen.

ttt

for steelhead i like a nice firm egg..

when using pro cure i will let the eggs sit in a jar with the juice for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, after that i will take them out and place on a strainer for 12-24 hours or until desired firmess.

for salmon i like a little softer egg so i might leave the eggs in the juice over night...


just depends, its also nice to mix things up a little too..

im going to cure all my eggs up this year in pint size jars, and some in half pints, that way i can bring a few different kinds of eggs with me.

I like to soak them for 24 hours when using procure and let them reabsorb their juices. I leave them in the fridge so I don't have to turn them as much to keep them from drying out. I then dry them on paper bag or cardboard until tacky firm not hard. I place them in the ziplock plastic containers layering them in fisherman's borax, leaving no air, prior to freezing (prevents freezer burn). I prefer to leave the skiens in large portions and trim them to size on the water depending on the bite. HTH

I also let them cure for 24hrs so the juice will reabsorb. BUT, at the 12th hour I pour some Mikes shrimp/herring oil in the juice to give them some scent. The eggs will stay alittle moist because of the oil but it works good.

Shrimp oil when upriver
Herring oil when near tidewater

For powedered cures. I wipe the blood off powder them up and then toss in the fridge for 4 to um when I remember to pull out of the fridge. If the eggs are lucky i may flip em once in a while. Ussually after a week, into the freezer they go. I always like freezing my eggs before there first use so that they are milked out after the 4th or 5th cast.

When I use powdered cures such as Amerman's or Wayne Priddy's, I cure them in a jar for at least 24 hrs (flip the jar once or twice). They reabsorb all their juice. I then vacum seal in Mason jars and freeze them. This produces wet, soft eggs that I use primarily for spring Chinook. They milk out very quickly. I don't add shrimp oil until I thaw them out and get ready to use them (in April/May)

However, if I'm curing eggs for steelhead, everything is different. I generally use the brightest eggs I can get and cure them with a combination of three parts borax, two parts sugar, one part salt (non-iodized), and half a part sodium bisulfite. This cure hardens the eggs, dries them out, and preserves the existing color. It doesn't add any color, thus the need to use bright eggs. I roll them in this mixture and cure them in a plastic container. I pour off the excess juice and freeze it for later use. This produces a hard egg that is a natural color. It's great for drifting through rapids and riffles for steelhead. You need to pour off the juice if you want a hard egg.

IMO:

Soft, wet, dyed eggs = salmon

Hard, dry, natural eggs = steelhead

I'm sure I will get lots of disagreement with that......

This year, I may experiment with using pure anise oil. However, I'm not sure where to find it. Can anyone help? I can normally find commerical bait oils (Mike's, Pro-Cure, etc) with anise but it ain't like the real thing. I'm having a hard time finding it. I may post this question as a seperate thread.

I cure my eggs in pint jars for 9 days in the fridge and 1 day at room temperature. I will turn the jars over every 12 hours.

Don't get rid of the juice.

Just put the jars in the freezer (completely stops the curing process) for storage after they are cured.

Take a jar out and let it thaw at room temperature. If you don't want juicy eggs, drain off the juice in the field. Lay them down on a paper towel, and in about 40 minutes, they will toughen up.

If you are going to be Flydogging eggs where the eggs are really abused by dragging on the bottom, plop your cut up thawed eggs in some fine borax. That will really toughen them up for hard abuse. I will only do this when Flydogging, not boondogging.

One bait, one pass, is the rule, for boondogging.

You can speed up the molecular osmosis process of curing by doing it at room temperature (two days). :p

But, I don't drive the speed limit either.

I like to use the pro-glow cure.I cure or let egg's set in there juices for 24-48 hours as stated above.Then I like to put the cut up egg's in a strainer in the fridge for 24 hours to drain.After this I will pack in the pre-maid 8" foodsaver bags,I will only put enough egg's for one trip in the bag's.Then I put in the freezer over night then I seal them while frozen so the berries don't get smashed.When it comes time to use the egg's I'll pull out of the freezer the night before I go puncture the bag so the berries don't smash as they thaw out.Once they are thawed out I will strain once more for a few hours.If I'm gonna be fishin for steelhead I will then place bait in some fine borax to toughen up,If I'm salmon fishin I will not put in borax so they will milk out better.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

Reading Amerman's way to cure he suggests to save your juice and when your freezing to pour the juice over the top.But I don't freeze may egg's I have a seal a meal jar sealer that suck all the air out it works great.Some are in juice and some are not.

If I told you I would have to kill you :p

I use Amermans, Pro Cure and Pro Glow. I process the eggs at rm temp for 2 days than I vacum seal and freeze. Rotate the eggs every 12 hr to get the juice reasorbed. After 12 hrs I add scent so the oil wont mess up the Juicing process. Some of the eggs I add Bait chunks for natural oils. Works for me I process about 60 qts a year this way. I am still fishing a few 2 year old jars.

throw them in a freezer bag{zip lock} toss in some kind off cure rooll around a few minutes let set 20 roll em around some more then toss em in the freezer as the people that know me thaw them out as needed catch fish, refreeze anything left over and thats the way it is its not the process its the presentation!!!PEACE

Anybody care to explain the rationale behind why ProCure instructs you to pour the juice off after 30 minutes of curing?

Does anybody do this?

Yep..I did the last 3 batches of eggs (all hen Coho's from this year). Used some tonight for the first time, and frankly they didn't milk worth a hoot..fished under a float, gently cast. After the first drift through about a 30 yd. section of slow water they stopped milking. They LOOK beautiful (as good as Parkers looks), but they didn't milk well at all.

After I removed them from the juice after 45 min, I poured off LOTS of juice, right down the drain. It did seem odd to lose all that good juice...

Next time I do it as suggested here in this thread...they are going to sit in that juice for a couple days until every last drop is re-absorbed. This was with the Redd Hot flourescent stuff.

I've also used the Pro Glow borax after the standard old style Pro Cure, and they perform and milk well. I also add some "goodies" to all the cures..been experimenting with anise and shrimp scents.

Great thread...lots to be learned from others experiences.

Mike

I don't know why they instruct people to do that but I do know that many guides that freedrift alot do this to toughen up the eggs to hold up during this type of fishing. FNP I do think the river down there is calling for us on your day off. Give me a call!
CM