preparing spawn...

[SurfDog]

I took a hen chinook off one of the piers yesterday and I want to know what is the best way to preserve the spawn so I can use it throughout the fall for both pier and surf fishing. Should I cure with something like Pro Cure...is there a homemade recipe i should use? Looking for a little direction, thanks in advance.

[Quadd4]

I can't remember the exact amount of borax, but I brought a medium pot of water to boil, added some borax to the water and boiled them for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Removed them from the hot water and cold rinsed. Added some red food coloring to some of them and left some natural. Came out pretty good. They worked well for spawn sacks and were also good for single hook usage.

I only did this twice so hopefully someone else with a lot more experience will chim in.

[fish-on]

just use salt.roll the eggs on news papper to remove any blood then put in a ziploc bag pour in a far amount of salt and mix.let stand in the fridge for a couple hours then freeze it.when you thaw it let it dry a little untill tacky.your all set.you can refreeze this spawn cured this way if need be.i've used pro-cure and a dozen orther ways but this seems to be the best,for me anyways.theres a bunch of ways to cure it.i found this to be the simplest and best way to do it.10,000 fish cant be wrong. :lol::lol::evil:

[RIVER LADY]

put the eggs in a ziploc bag....cover completely with dry borax, let set a few hours in the frig. Rinse and walah.....

A nice bouncy egg. That simple. They'll last forever in the water too.

[Quadd4]

If you just refrigerate them with the borax will you be able to put a hook through it without it popping? We use a single egg on a hook for whitefish and need them to hold up to the hook?

[RIVER LADY]

If you just refrigerate them with the borax will you be able to put a hook through it without it popping? We use a single egg on a hook for whitefish and need them to hold up to the hook?

Not sure on that one. However, tied in netting will last a very long time and they will actually bounce like a ball. :bouncy:

If you're good and quick at tying bags, won't take long at all. Just tie a whole bunch at one time, and then freeze what you aren't goiong to use. Just be sure to get most of the air out before hand and if freezing in freezer bag, wrap bag in a towel to protect from freezer burn.

[DonP]

... I do believe single salmon eggs will pop no matter how you "cure" them. That is... unless you leave them out long enough until they dry out... and then you might as well put an uncooked split pea on your hook!! (those of us who have ever used single salmon eggs for bait know what I am talking about!! :lol: )

Gotta boil them "just right" for whitefish!! :D

[Ralph Smith]

Do a search, been lots of talk and recipes on hear that sound great. All I do is rinse them in river or lake water first, then at home put them in about 1/2 gallon of water to 1 cup kosher salt, 1 cup brown sugar, let set over night. Rinse the next day and put in plastic empty pickle bologna jar and store in fridge. Can tie as needed and I guarantee they will last a year in fridge without going bad. No need to freeze, just leave in fridge. This is loose eggs. for skein you can do same, but need to cut into chunks first, after first method above, lay out on paper towel(be sure to pat skein pieces real dry) and sprinkle cherry jello over pieces and work in between cracks, then put in jar. Jello will absorb any moisture.

[toto]

The best way I found was pretty simple. Take as many eggs as you would use for a days fishing. Wrap them in wax paper squeeze out the air. Next, wrap that in aluminum foil and again if any air get that out. Next, put that in a zip loc baggy and again squeeze out the air. Put them in the freezer and let em stay there until a day or so before you are going to use them. Thaw them SLOWLY in the fridge. They will be just like you took them out of the fish yesterday. No need for borax or anything else. They'll be good to handle and tie up very nicely. They'll last quite a long time in the freezer too.

[Quadd4]

... I do believe single salmon eggs will pop no matter how you "cure" them. That is... unless you leave them out long enough until they dry out... and then you might as well put an uncooked split pea on your hook!! (those of us who have ever used single salmon eggs for bait know what I am talking about!! :lol: )

Gotta boil them "just right" for whitefish!! :D

So DonP, based on your last sentence, "just right" - does my method described above jive with the way you prepare them? I do remember that the ones I prepared did work well and didn't pop on the hook and could also be tied in sacks easily. I can't remember how much borax I added though.