Firming up herring ?

[swampy]

I used some Yaquina jigged herring yesterday taht I had put up using the recipe from ifish ...rocksalt powdered milk and mrs ? blue stuff ..i thawed and put on salt water the night before . It fished alright but softened up pretty quick when trolled . Anyone having better luck keeping it firm ?!? Thinking maybe dusting with crushed Viagra !!

[Drachir]

I followed the same recipe, and had similar results. I took the rest of the batch and put them in layers in a shallow plastic container, with just Rock Salt. They seem much tougher now and will most likely fish much better.

[CAGEY]

I think a lot depends on how long you leave them in the brine and how much salt you use. I leave them in the brine for at least 12 hours or longer and they are like rubber. My brine is more of a mush and not very much liquid.

[spooner]

make your brine the night befor make sure you desolve the salt befor you put the bait in and keep it COLD. then in the morning cut plug what you think you will need. make sure you have a nice clean cut dont tear the skin pull the guts out carfuly. then pour some fine salt on your cuting board and dab the cut end of the hearing in it and put them in a tuperwear container nice and neet and layer salt them with fine salt. dont youse to much salt or thy will shrivel up like raisens and put them in a cooler with some ice. the most important thing is to keep them COLD. on a hot day like today I dont care how good a brine you have the wont last if the brine gedts hot. good luck