Additives to your "Hammer Cure"

[Lilcorky]

R.T. what do you think of adding Borax to this cure. Also I have been told that you need to rinse cured eggs very quickly in cold water to stop the curing process.Then air dry them. You didn't mention rinsing or drying them in your post. Do you subscribe to the rinse method? By the way Springers are now showing in the Middle Fork. Three in the boat one of those released and two others farmed off.I caught a little bit about dried and powdered Sardines in cures on the D.B. does this sound good? I'm not sure you posted it.

[This message has been edited by Lilcorky (edited 05-05-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Lilcorky (edited 05-05-2000).]

[Deleted User]

If you are asking about adding borax to the dry cure powder before sprinkling on the eggs, I wouldn't do that because I don't think it will improve them and it will change the balance of the cure makeup. Even though it is benign compared to other chems some of it would be disolved and reabsorbed into the egg sacks. It would not hurt them though. If some eggs are too juicy/gooey after curing and attempts to air dry them I would try rolling them in borax. Above is for 'nook fishing. Borax is a good base, along with a little salt &/or sugar, for curing eggs intended for steelhead fishing.- Back to 'nook eggs. If egg skeins are pretty clean right from the fish I usually just glove them into a ziplock & paper towell them off before curing. If they are dark & bloody I rinse them briefly in a gallon of distilled water (which has zero chlorine) that I have had in the freezer for a couple hours until almost frozen so that the eggs won't milk out during the rinse. They won't milk out in heavy saltwater either, but that upsets the balance of the chem curing process so I prefer the former. DO NOT rinse your eggs during the curing process or after. That would ruin the curing process and cause some milkout loss of juice. With chem curing you want to let the eggs reabsorb most of the juiceout back into the egg sacks for better & longer milking qualities when fishing. Air drying egg clusters will give them longer usablity but they will not fish quite as well. "Wet pack" eggs (a Guide Shop originated term) will milk out better and will look and feel more natural to the fish than dried eggs. Also, I prefer to jar them up juicy to help prevent freezer burn. Some people like to jar chem cured eggs in borax and that's fine (it will even toughen the eggs a little).- As for the dried sardine powder idea, I have a better one. I did try drying thin filets to add to my cure a couple times and it works, but is not worth the considerable effort (in afterthought, I shouldn't have posted about that). Instead, as one cure alternative, I will put some fresh sardine filets right into the juiced up eggs about an hour or so after applying the cure powder. Leave them in overnight and some of the natural sardine oil will get absorbed into the egg sacks, and the filets will absorb some of the egg cure juice & chems, making great combo scent filets for Kwikfish. Try wrapping Kwikfish in both the eggcured sardine & plain sardine filets to see which one the fish prefer on any given day- usually it will be the combo, which also has a redish color for a bit of attraction.- Steve