spawn help

[talltails]

Kind of new to this but how do you treat spawn so it will last.I did it before but it never seemed to turn out right.THANKS

[steelymike]

Everyone has their own method that works for them. With tight steelhead eggs if i plan on using them in bags i will scrape them off the skein, put them in a plastic ziploc bowl,sprinkle on a small amount of borax, and either tie up bags right away or freeze. The borax seems to toughen up the eggs a little and they still milk well. if i want to use the eggs in the skein form I will freeze the skeins whole and then cut them up in useable size piece when I need them. For loose king or steelhead eggs I try to pump as many eggs out of the fish down by the river into a ziploc, then fill the bag with clean river water and let them sit for a while. this water cure method toughens up the eggs well and you have a natural egg as a result.