RT egg cure question

[local_hooker]

RT

How long after I shake the eggs in borax can I freeze them??

Thanks

Sean

[fishbait]

Immediately after

[local_hooker]

That is a relief! I did it a week ago according to RT's directions and as soon as I finished with the borax I sealed them up and threw em' in the freezer. Then I thought maybe the borax needed time to work?? It was my first time.

Thanks

Sean

[David Johnson]

just remember if they are not vacum sealed and just in borax they will not last too long before freezer burn.

[Sliderite]

You should consider a vacuum sealer such as the Ultra Foodsaver which has a jar attachment. Mine is going strong after four years and I wouldn't think of freezing my fish without this sealer. You can seal wide mouth pints and quart jars and you will never look back!

'hooker, I only use the borax cures for steelhead fishing eggs. And I agree with fishbait's suggestion that you can freeze them right after; but seal out the air as Dave suggests to help avoid freezer burn. ...

As for the chem cured eggs that most of us use for chinook/silver fishing eggs, you should leave them in the fridge for a few days before freezing them. This allows much of the cured egg juice to reabsorb back into the egg sacks, and also for a continued 'curing' effect on them. Then vacu-seal them in glass jars for freezing the ones you aren't prepared to use soon.

RT

[smilesforu]

Hooker
Boraxed eggs are best dried a bit before freezing. You can also accomplish this by pulling them out of your freezer and leaving them in the fridge a few days before heading out. This seems to toughen them up quite a bit.
I use boraxed for both salmon and steelhead and they work great. You can add scents/coloring to the eggs when they are in the refrigerator. Make sure to do the coloring or scenting in a sealed bag or container.

[local_hooker]

I tend to have the "more is better" syndrome, so since I didn't know how much borax to use I used alot. I shook them gently in borax to coat them well then buried them in the stuff before sealing.

Thanks to everyone for the advise.

Sean

[local_hooker]

RT
These are for steelhead, and were cured per the method you posted a while back. And yes they were sealed prior to freezing.

I remember how jacked I got the first time I caught a fish on a fly that I had tied, and now I have the same anticipation about these eggs.

Thanks for sharing the how too.

Sean

[Salmonator]

You mentioned that the eggs were "shaken" in borax. If you completely cover them in borax they will last quite a while before freezer burning. If you just dust them with borax and then pack them in a jar they won't last long at all...

l_h, as with egg cures for salmon fishing I have a number of cures that I do for steelhead, so I don't know which one I posted that you are refering to. With so many silvers being caught this fall I will post one of my good steelhead fishing cures for some of the medium sized berry silver eggs coming in; to freeze for the winter steelhead season. ...

Try soaking small nickle+ sized egg clusters for fishing steelhead into a large bowl of a mixture of Pautzke's Nector (red) and a little quality shrimp oil and anise oil stirred in. Soak them for about a half hour then drain off the eggs in a strainer over another collecting bowl. Save this brine in the fridge up to a week to use again on more incoming eggs, or in the freezer if longer than that. You can use this mix about 3 times, then discard it and make a new brine starting with the next batch of eggs. Put these soaked then drained eggs on paper towells to get off the excess moisture and then put them on a rack, or more dry non-inked paper towells, to dry for a few hours until tacky; but not too hard. Then gently shake them in a sack with plain white borax. Vacu-seal them in jars or pack them in extra borax before freezing, to keep them from freezer burn. This winter, when you do this cure with hatchery caught steelhead eggs, fridge the ones you will use within a week and freeze the rest for later. ...

Since steelhead aren't as fond of chems as chinooks, and borax firms up eggs well for fast water use, any good borax cure of properly handled quality eggs is usually good for fishing steelies. The ol' cherry Jello and borax combo is still good, as is just plain borax. ... If you run out of these eggs, keep in mind that steelhead will take eggs you have chem cured for salmon fishing since most steelie fishing is in faster water where the fish don't have much time to really sniff out eggs, as salmon often do in deep slower holes. Just thaw some out and cut them into the smaller clusters and lightly dust in borax (or no borax [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ). Good luck.

RT