Like any bait the better the initial product the better the final bait. Take care of your eggs and they'll take care of you.

 

That's it bleed them good and get them out of the fish into the cooler ASAP. The biggest mistake you can make being a rookie is using too much cure. If your using the eggs for salmon and really want them to milk out add a little powdered milk.

 

Never understood why fisherman were so anal about not sharing cure recipies...

 

thank you for your contribution.
i don't know anything to share myself.

 

I understand why no one wants to share egg cure secrets. If there egg cure is really that good than ya id have a hard time sharing it. so Im just daring someone to give me a chance.

 

Back in the day, we didn't have ready made cures, we had to come up with our own. If ya can't make good bait this day and age, yer not trying. Read the label. If it sounds like it might make the eggs you want, buy it, follow the directions.

If there's any secret to good finished eggs, it's starting with good eggs. Don't contaminate them with blood and human scent.

 

Too many people get caught up in the cure and not the presentation. Not saying that good bait isn't a major factor in catching fish but if it's not in front of them they won't bite it. This is especially true in really boily water where it can be difficult to get a good presentation.

 

If it helps the op'er, i have basically used the 3-2-1 recipie. Borax, brown sugar, sea salt. Add the eval milk for extra milking and any other scents you want. I caught fish with that cure the last couple years now. Keep it simple. Also get eggs on ice and bled asap and use gloves to always handle them with. Also never dip them in water or wash them off! Good luck man!

 

I like pro glow for salmon 3-2-1 for steelhead. All alone they will catch fish but once you catch a few hens and have some tried & true all cured up, you'll want to experiment a little especially with the 3-2-1. There are volumes of books written with recipes in them, and many different additives to use. Educate yourself by reading, talking with guys in the know and time spent fishing. Your learning curve will drastically be shortened by doing this.


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i don't have any secrets. start with good eggs, pick a cure, I usually cut mine with sugar...2/3 cure, 1/3 sugar. follow the directions on the bottle.

I try to carry 3 cures with me every day, plus sand shrimp, tuna belly, sardine. anise is another scent I fish, but add to a bait I am ready to fish.

I fish a couple other scents as well, but nothing I have is magical every day. I like to keep changing things, and paying attention to what I am fishing, so I know what gets bit, and keep track so I can effectively offer as many combinations as possible.

I see people adding all kinds of things to their eggs while curing, not saying it's wrong, but for me I like to add afterwards.

the main thing once you have decent or better bait is paying attention, everything...where bites happen, what your presentation is doing, looking for a flattened bait indicating a bite you didn't detect, always keep a good bait on, never get lazy.

 

the main thing once you have decent or better bait is paying attention, everything...where bites happen, what your presentation is doing, looking for a flattened bait indicating a bite you didn't detect, always keep a good bait on, never get lazy.

Good advice there, Yesterday I had a take down and had so much slack it the line by the time I tried to set the hook the fish had spit it out, new fresh eggs right thru the same spot, the anticipation of that is out of this world. I was ready the second time. :wink:

 

Straight Borax. Easy and effective - been catching fish for decades.

 

Agree with NCD, straight Borax.
If you want to get fancy, check out this book....

 

It hard to nail down any one bait cure, scent or additive that would work for every fishery. Because different rivers different scent or cure preferences can change from day to day or season to season like spring and fall. Have noticed that there are a couple system that I fish where I produce good results with the same scents and additives year after year. Experiment a bit, try to figure out a pattern that fits well on the system and run you are fishing. If others around you are catching and your not getting bit as much keep trying different things and after time you will figure it out little bits at a time. Pay attention to others who are having success and make adjustment to your gear accordingly. Process of elimination

 

thanks all. i am bona just keep it simple and add afterwards

 

Do u think the springers like sulfide so as much as falls

 

I have a stupid question...

I see people saying "bleed your eggs out well before curing, but don't wash them with water or rinse them".

What should a person do to "bleed" their eggs without rinsing them? Wrap them in paper towels?


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When someone refers to bleeding them out, they mean get the blood out of all the skein veins. Use a spoon and push the blood out of the large end of the vein, working from the tiny veins out to the largest. Then dab any extra blood that gets on any eggs. Salmon hate their own coagulated blood. Wouldnt you?

 

1 cup Pro Glow, 1 cup borax, 1/4 cup sugar.

Secrets = The morning you fish them sprinkle a little powdered sugar in the container and for kings add sandshrimp and you will out fish the guys that don't. For coho and steelhead, skip the sandshrimp but add herring scent. I like the blue gel stuff.

 

Nice dimples I'm going to try that


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Honestly... The 321 cure works fantastic! Caught hundreds of steelhead with em. As said before, take care of the eggs and follow the directions you'll ne just fine

 

Honestly... The 321 cure works fantastic! Caught hundreds of steelhead with em. As said before, take care of the eggs and follow the directions you'll ne just fine

add a little tender quick, and a little sodium sulfite and color...or just some commercial cure and it is no slouch for salmon, especially springers and coho.

I am a straight borax, or borax and jello for steelhead. I have caught plenty of incidental chinook on straight borax too, but sulfite based cures will out fish borax by a pretty fair margin in a competitive environment.

 

I don't know why but I've done best with more sugar in the tide water and more salt the farther you go into fresh water.

 

Clean eggs and fire cure.

"Secret egg cures" only matter to humans.

 

I've been doing salt sugar and borax but i see other eggs get bit more by springers than mine so i went with the sure cure. now just to wait for the crowds to thin out and test em. tomorrow

 

Here is some free advice for you. If you are fishing on fish that are getting beat on every day ( Holes at Hatcheries) etc these fish will be all the more finicky and reluctant to bite. This is where you need to be "creative" and try different baits or cures. Or do like I do. I avoid places like that like the "Plague". Fish water less traveled and harder to get to.The rewards can be great.Also don't tell your "Friends" where you are fishing. Just sayin.

 

today was a good example of having to pay attention, quite a few flat baits, knowing there is one interested, and the line it's on....4 cures to keep mixing it up....and keep plugging away...

 

today was a good example of having to pay attention, quite a few flat baits, knowing there is one interested, and the line it's on....4 cures to keep mixing it up....and keep plugging away...

Now that looks like a fun morning.

When you say the line it's on do you mean depth?

 

Winter Steelhead aren't too picky but scent can make a huge difference with the summer fish in slow water. In fast water, Steelhead are more sight strikers and far less scent oriented. When we first started fishing for summers, we used exclusively soft shell crawdads and this was 100% scent fishing. Night crawlers with a peeled crawdad tail worked too. The fish back then were slow water dwellers. Over the years, it gradually changed to a fast water fishery so we switched to winter tactics and eggs. I don't know if a summer fish will sneak up on a wad of eggs resting on the bottom in slow water but if they do, you've got the right scent for sure. I've found that drifting chunks of prawn/shrimp on a yarn hook works as well as eggs in fast water where it's a sight type bite.

Springers love soft shelled crawdads also.

 

I like the keep it simple idea. I use 2 commercial and 3/2/1 cure each year. Add scent on the river if I feel it is necessary. Usually cycle through pro cure and fire cure. With the commercial cures I split the batches so I have some that are wet and some that are drier for tumbling amoungst the rocks. Other "secrets" have already been said: good eggs, no blood, wear gloves, etc.
I am in no way an expert, but it takes some time to get what you like in an egg cure. When I started during my own, I would quarter the skeins and pull them from the curing process at various times just to see what type of eggs I would get. Anywhere from tiny rock hard berries all the way to large juicy berries that would pop if you look at them wrong. I have settled some where in the middle. Trial and error and more trial an error.
Tight lines.

 

What is the title of the book?

 

1. Take time to clean the blood out/off the eggs. Use dry paper towels and do not wash or rinse them. Keep them cool (not too cold or warm)
2. Cure in clean plastic or glass containers. NOT METAL bowls.
3. Allow initial process to cure and milk, and re-absorb at room temperature (cool) before refrigerating.

My personal favorite salmon cures are Pautzke Fire Cure and ProCure Double hot red. For upriver fish I add a little salt and sulfates.
BoraxOfire is good steelhead cure.

Pautzke, ProCure and Ultimate Egg Cure have excellent videos on YouTube.