So I cured up the eggs from the fish I brought home last night. I woke up this morning to find that the eggs did not reabsorb any of the juices like they normally do. Instead, the bag was full of juice and the eggs are pretty hard. They look like little pebbles! I've been using boraxo'fire for a while now with great results. lately I've been adding a bit of sea salt and have been producing some excellent, gummy side drifting eggs. I also usually add a 1/3 cup of raw sugar. I'm pretty sure I put too much salt in and burned them, but it was probably less than 2 tablespoons that I put in there.

What do you think? Is there a way I can get them to plump back up or is it a lost cause at this point? I really needed those eggs for the coming months...

Thanks for any help,

Drew

Give 'em to the kid down the street for trout fishing.

Leave them in the juice and see if they plump up. I haven't heard of anyone burning eggs on borax o fire. I add sulfite to all of my cures and have only burned one batch.

If they don't reabsorb them then try to throw them in a brine. If that doesnt work pm me your address and I will take them.

If you had "good results in the past"......write the formula down and follow it...

On the current eggs..... some eggs are better than no eggs, can always use them for "jacks".

Don't want to give another egg cure, but the "old":

1/3, 1/3, 1/3.....sugar, salt, borax, I add some Beau Max dye....is tough to beat. Can mix up and have ready to use, except for the dye.

Don't "over do" when putting mixture on eggs.

8 - 12 hours, then dump in a plastic strainer....I leave in the strainer, but move eggs around, turn, for 2 - 3 days.

I put in vacuum seal bags, 20 - 24 baits, put in freezer for about an hour, then vacuum seal. Write on bag.....kind of eggs and date. In the freezer they go.

20 - 24 baits is normally enough for a days fishing, cause I also have 6 prawns, and then jigs. Need to get into "spoons", just tough to do it all.

I would if there was one to give them too. haha. So do you think a couple tablespoons of sea salt was the demise of my eggs? it just seems like such a small amount of salt to cause that. I'm thinking the sugar has nothing to do with it.

Or maybe it was the sugar?

He said he put salt in them, that is what did it.

Sugar is the hardener. I would leave them in juice for another 24hrs. If all else fails buy some pautzke Necter and soak them in that.....

+1 on the nectar...good stuff. I add it to bait a lot when king fishing. I doubt it was the salt, I add a lot of salt to salmon bait cures and it only aids to reabsorbing the juice. But in the other hand, a couple tablespoons is quite a bit for a couple small steelhead skeins.

I also don't add any salt to me steelhead cures but thats another dabate and personal preference. Its concept I still battle with. Some kolks will preach 'til there blue in the face thaf steelhead won't bite a cure with sulfites/salt..but I have killed many steelhead with rays coon shrimp and Duane E.'s recipe from NWWC. Both cures have a lot of salt.

I do use fire cure though for all species with success.

I've had some good days with sulfite cures for steelhead. Sounds like the sugar is what hardened them. I'll grab some nectar or maybe some fire brine and experiment tonight.

if they stay in the egg loop use them the fish don't care I routinely catch fish on borax cured eggs that have been in the back of my truck for a month ( during winter) steelhead simply do not care if it's mean they'll eat it.

I have found sulfite cures are better in lower river situations.

Drew,

Just be patient, I think your eggs will turn out fine. I have experimented with a lot or weird chit with eggs over the years.

I have had many batches turn out on the grainy side and also to the point of looking like wrinkled up raisins. I bet yours will stay on the hook well and plump right up after the second cast. Just give them a try.

sometimes it takes a couple days to reabsorb the liquid? with 1 of my cures i have to rotate the eggs for 3 days before it gets reabsorbed.

yes, my steely cure is a 3 day process...... a lot of sugar for upper river fish

The eggs that I use for steelhead...which I do about two days per year...are usually prepared first by defrosting the sandwich bag they are jammed in, and then trimming off the mold.

Steelhead don't care too much.

For the two days per year that I use eggs for salmon, on the other hand, I actually take care of those eggs. Once they get a little sketchy is when they miraculously become...steelhead eggs.

Fish on...

Todd

If you're sidedrifting them for steelhead you'll probably like them as they are..If they'll stay on the hook. Little yarn and you have super scented immitation eggs. As has been stated a million times before, it's more of a site thing with steelhead.

I had been taught by old school egg guides, one of which is a Pautzke pro-staffer that an egg attack is sticktly the fish trying to kill and destroy the eggs to ensure survival and eliminate competiton for that particular fish's genes. Also that the deeper red eggs had a higher chance of survival and that was why these certain fisherman wanted a red cure.

Of course this could be smoke being blown up my ass. But these men have quite the reputaions for their egg fishing and have been doing it for a loooong time. Take it for what its worth, I guess.

Easy fix. Take a moist (soak it and ring it out as dry as you can get it) paper towel and wrap the eggs in it. Let it sit over night, eggs will plump back up. AND they'll be pretty tough staying on the hook a lot better.

just take the eggs out of the juice, you can save it but it is too concentrated to allow the reabsortion process to start, its basically one sided right now and all its doing is continueing to draw out the liquid of the egg. so by removing the liquid you basically dilute the juice, there will still be a little juice in the crevises of the eggs and thats what it will reabsorb. you will still have the ingredients there but the concentration levels are down enough to allow the eggs to get back to your desired state.

YBD - Rethink your position. "I had been taught by old school egg guides, one of which is a Pautzke pro-staffer that an egg attack is sticktly the fish trying to kill and destroy the eggs to ensure survival and eliminate competiton for that particular fish's genes. Also that the deeper red eggs had a higher chance of survival and that was why these certain fisherman wanted a red cure."

Salmon aren't that smart. They don't associate little round red/orange blobs floating downstream as the next generation of fish. They don't think it through. If they did, we'd never catch one. Salmon associate free-drifting eggs as food. They ate eggs when they were fry/smolt, and they do it again when they're adults. It ain't that complicated.

I've got them soaking in fire brine. I'll post some before and after pics of the eggs if they plump up. I've had good luck recharging gnarley frozen eggs with fire brine so this should work. Either way I'm sure they'll fish but it's a confidence booster when I'm fishing eggs that look good to me.

i never add anything to the BOF, and have excellent results every single time...

matter of fact i have 1 year old chum eggs in the fridge that look, smell, feel, and fish just fine using BOF... it already has sugar and salt in it, no need to add anymore...

if you want a sulfite based cure, use Beau Mac's Pro Glow, or one of the other big brands...

Nates Bait Cure is another one thats in stores now, and a very easy one to use as well...

I have watched my dad catch countless steelhead on eggs taken straight out of his fish on the bank.

Life's too short to use fkd up bait.

Throw a chit load of red bad ass bait dye on em and throw in a fisheseses mug...trust me. I have over 400 posts, I have an idea what I'm talking about Drew...durrr..

Too much salt! Rinse them off and repeat without the salt. Some of my coho eggs are a little hard. I did 1/2 teaspoon per cup of borax. Chinook eggs cure up well with a level teaspoon of salt per cup of borax. Heaping if you don't dry them out enough.

Fish em, they still smell better than any okie, corkie, spoon, plug, or any of the other stupid stuff fish bite!

Drew,
Call Superfly, resident egg whore and egg pro .........
I never use sugar, if done incorrectly you will end up with a shhitt load of baby super balls !!!!!

LOL

Peace
Fly................call the doc next time holmes...........

after sitting in fire brine over night they are looking much better. I'll check em again after work tonight and drain em. Been curing eggs without issues for a few years. Now I know sugar can be bad.

The steelhead cure I use most has lotsa sugar in it but mostly borax.Sounds like there was to much of both that was added to a cure that was ready to go.Good luck,
SZ

Listen to Fly....I've made sugar boogers out of good eggs before as well. Less is more.

Beaumac dye and pro cure and salt, no measurements, just sprinkle it on let them sit overnight and stir them around every couple hours, they will juice up, reabsorb, air dry for a day or two and vacuum pack them after flash freezing them, look and fish great.
The salt will make them last vacuum packed for years. I am still fishing 2004-2005 eggs and they work just as good as new.

that's how mine look now afte sitting in fire brine for a day.