Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[sgodwin]

I recently caught a number of pink, coho, and chinook up near Port Hardy and kept the roe for curing and fishing coho on the Fraser this year. The eggs were a variety of sizes, from quite undeveloped and small to very large.

I've never fished with roe before and I've noticed that all the videos and articles online tend to use huge single chum/chinook eggs. Can I also use smaller eggs in big chunks, or do coho only go for large eggs?

Thanks!

[Tylsie]

I actually use almost exclusively coho eggs (mostly because that is what I have access to) and have always had success. I just tie them into sacs with about 3-4 cured eggs each on average, but always make some bigger and some smaller. Anything from 8 eggs down to 1 or 2 with a small piece of yarn to in the sac to add scent. I know this isn't that common in BC but it is quite common in the Great Lakes, and in the States. 

[Animal Chin]

Cure the skeins and then cut them into chunks (loonie or twoonie size) when you're fishing. I'm assuming you're bar fishing?

I've personally had success with chum (first choice) and pink eggs ... and less so with coho, never caught or used chinook eggs but don't see why they wouldn't work. I'm sure they all work fine, I've just caught more chum and pinks, so used them more often.

I've been told the more mature the eggs (fuller, more open skeins), the better. I've come to this conclusion also. This would be your grade A stuff. I'd use the small eggs too of course, fresh roe is hard to come by. Since you can use two hooks bar fishing, do a little experiment to see what gets the bite.

I always make sure my fish are bled well and there is no blood in my eggs. I also use Pautzke's firecure, but I've fished with others who've just used pickling salt etc (everyone has there own method) and they've caught fish. Pautzke's puts out a good video on curing eggs.

Good luck.

[FlyFishin Magician]

There's a trade off at both ends.  If the eggs are too immature, they will be small and may not hold fluid very well and the roe will become "mushy".  It works, but just isn't as good.   As the eggs mature, they become more "robust" and will cure up very well.  On the other end of the scale, eggs that are too mature will not have enough membrane to hold the eggs together (I prefer roe chunks for coho fishing).  However, you could always tie up roe bags.  Then of course there's the fish.  Immature roe = higher quality table fish.  Mature roe = less quality table fish.

I've used pink, coho, spring, and chum roe all successfully on coho.  I'm not sure if there's much of a difference between the species, but I find I'm most successful for coho using coho roe - probably because I have more of it than anything else.  I rarely use chum roe mainly because I don't harvest chum.  I hear it's one of the best though...

[sgodwin]

Wow, thank you for your fantastic tips. I really appreciate it! I won't hesitate to use the smaller eggs then and will cut those skeins into chunks rather than count numbers of eggs. But since I have a wide range of species and egg sizes, I'll make sure I take notes on what works and what doesn't. My eggs are curing as we speak, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how they turn out!

Again, thanks for the help!

[Animal Chin]

I also don't store my roe in borax. I find it dries it out too much. I cure till all liquid is re-absorbed (usually 24 hours), vacuum seal in jars (I have a sealer).

When using I defrost overnight, dry on paper towels with one piece covering top, cut into chunks or whole skein and shake-an-baked tossed in borax.

I keep it a little longer in borax in fridge if I'm river fishing, bar fishing i borax and go and that's mainly for better handling and to dry out the skeins a little.

It's kind of pedantic but that's how I do it.

[DanL]

Over the years I have used roe from all 5 pacific species for coho and they all work. I just use whatever I have the most of on hand and don't feel at a disadvantage. I do prefer some roe over other due to ease of curing and handling, but that's not related to fish catching ability.

Someone up thread mentioned extremely immature eggs may not cure as well which is a valid point, but generally I've found that all salmon roe if prepared properly will take coho.

One thing I've noticed it that some species roe are naturally lighter or darker than others. Chum roe usually starts out a quite bit paler than say coho roe, and can either be cured to very bright colors if one so desires, left natural, or anything in between. The same curing process can result in very different colours, so depending on what you like, you might come to prefer one species on that factor alone.

... since I have a wide range of species and egg sizes, I'll make sure I take notes on what works and what doesn't.

Overall I wouldnt sweat it. Whatever you have will work, and I'd actually be somewhat surprised/interested if you found a particular species of roe vastly outperformed the others, that couldn't be attributed to some other factor like colour, cure quality, etc

[NexusGoo]

I've heard of some pretty strange opinions on what species eggs work for certain species. For example one of my buddies will not use Spring roe for Cohos, because Cohos tend to stay away from springs in the river and he believes the scent of spring roe turns them off 

Personally I'll use any type of roe, as long as it's been cured to my standards

[DanL]

I've heard of some pretty strange opinions on what species eggs work for certain species. For example one of my buddies will not use Spring roe for Cohos, because Cohos tend to stay away from springs in the river and he believes the scent of spring roe turns them off 

Yeah, last year a sales guy at the LFS suggested I not use pink roe in even numbered years because they weren't running and therefore would be unfamiliar to the coho that year. Well frozen pink roe was all I had at the time and it seemed to work well enough.

And last season a friend gave me a huge skein of spring roe that lasted me a few weeks of fishing. Luckily I never got around to telling the coho the source, since they didnt seem to mind

[sgodwin]

Thanks again! You guys are the best. So much good info here. I had already put the eggs in borax, and took them out today and they looked pretty good! Next time I'll try another method and see what works better. I froze the roe in freezer ziplocs after getting all the air out of the bags by submerging them in water. Can't wait to try out the fruits of my labour!

[DanL]

FYI for long term freezing consider a vacuum sealer or airtight jars or they will dry out/freezer burn.

Also check out the massive official roe thread for lots more discussion you might find interesting:

http://www.fishingwithrod.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=22057

[sgodwin]

FYI for long term freezing consider a vacuum sealer or airtight jars or they will dry out/freezer burn.

Also check out the massive official roe thread for lots more discussion you might find interesting:

http://www.fishingwithrod.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=22057

Thanks DanL! I'm surprised that didn't come up when I used the search function before making this thread. Looks like there's lots of great info in there!

Hm well I don't have a vacuum sealer or air tight jars handy, but I'll get on that. I'd have thought this would work for a couple months, but that's good to know. Thanks!

[DanL]

Oh for a few months you're fine. By long term  I'm thinking a year or more. Now that you are making high quality roe, I can only assume you're freezer will soon be packed full of fresh fish and more roe than you know what to do with

[sgodwin]

Oh but of course!

[FlyFishin Magician]

Thanks DanL! I'm surprised that didn't come up when I used the search function before making this thread. Looks like there's lots of great info in there!

Hm well I don't have a vacuum sealer or air tight jars handy, but I'll get on that. I'd have thought this would work for a couple months, but that's good to know. Thanks!

Hey Dan - with a vacuum sealer is there any concern damaging the eggs during the vacuum process?  Or is it better to initially freeze the roe first, then vacuum pack it?  Then before thawing it out, break the vacuum seal so that the eggs don't break as they thaw?  Or is it not a problem???  Thanks!