David,
Why do our fresh eggs cost more than other fresh eggs? Why do our cured eggs cost more than guides choice eggs? Why does a G. Loomis rod cost more than an Eagle Claw rod? Like fishing tackle, boats and most other fishing supplies, there are lots of different kind of eggs you can buy. Quality is the main difference. Fresh eggs come from many different sources and have a have a very short life span. A true quality fresh egg ( like you would catch out of a fish yourself) really should be cured within the first 24 hours. Many people believe that it should be done much sooner. Also how those eggs are kept for that 24 hours is really important. As most people know who catch their own fish, if a fish is not bleed at the time of death, the eggs can become contaminated with blood and other bad enzymes from the fish. A fresh egg that has not been cured needs to be stored at cool temp. to maintain the quality for those 24 hours. A fresh egg that is fresh out a fish has clear inner liquids and oils, is blood free and has no bad odors. When you cut a fresh quality egg skein with a pair of scissors, you will not pop any eggs. If your fresh eggs are too old or has not been cared for correctly, they will lose they clarity in the liquids and oils and the outside of the egg will harden making it less likely to accept the cure. As you cut the eggs, some eggs will squirt and be cut by the scissors( Often seeing eggs poop is the easiest way to tell how fresh or old an egg is) and the eggs will have odors. Often we as humans can not smell the odors in the eggs. You might be asking yourself, "Come on, does any of this really matter?" Well fish can smell in parts per billion. A blood hound or other dog that can track human sent left behind after someone ran through a field can smell in parts per millions. I believe we can smell in parts per thousand. So what's the difference in an egg that is fresh and one that comes out of a gillnet? Our fresh eggs are cut out of the fish at the time of death (or before) and delivered to you just hours out of the fish and have been kept on ice or in a cooler until your receive them. An egg from a Gillnet is ..... Well first let's go back to that fish swimming into the net. The fish swims into the net and struggles, dying slowly as it loses oxygen. As a fish dies in this manner, it pumps its blood and enzymes to its vital organs and reproductive organs in an attempt to keep alive and oxygenated . After the fish dies, it sits in a net for who knows how long in 67 degree Columbia river water. When that fish is brought on board, it is held until the boat finishes for the day and takes out. Then the fish makes it to the fish buyer. Then said fish buyer would sell it to say a shop that would sell them. If this shop bought fish and all, they would need to clean the fish or at least now remove the eggs. Often the fish are cleaned based on the ones that have been in the buyer's shop the longest as they were sold by the fish seller knowing they have longer to deal with the ones that just came in. Then the eggs become available to you. This process often takes 48 plus hours. And this is just speaking to quality of the eggs--not whether or not you want you money going to support the state hatcheries or the Gill-netters. Ya, I could buy and sell a cheaper egg, but I choose not too. When the Guide shop sold eggs out of the hatcheries, they charged $9 a pound, and maybe now that they have a different source, their price and quality might have dropped. I heard they are selling their chinook eggs for $7 a pound.
So David, your not the first one to take a shot at us and why our eggs cost more, but all it does is allow us to show people why our eggs are better quality. And as you said, if you didn't want to start something, you would have asked this question in one of the many email or phone calls we have exchanged recently and not in the public forum I am trying to sell my eggs in.
Cooter there is a section of the Deschutes that allows bait fishing and many people use eggs there.
