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[Animal Chin]

Not sure why it's doing that for you, I've personally found that even at the end of the day I can bring home any extra eggs I have and keep them for the next trip and they stay in good condition.

I haven't tried the frozen eggs I've stored in borax but now I am tempted to see how they will do and what condition they are in.  Slightly worried but who knows.

haha..know what you mean about fretting about one's roe. I'll tell you what I did and you be the judge. This was with pink eggs. I cured them with red firecure according to instructions on the back, never dried before or after, put them in a 250 ml pickling jar, filled jar with borax (no air space as I thought this would be good), vacuum sealed with jar attachment on foodsaver, put in freezer.

6 months later, fished with it. It was a little too dry for my liking. YMMV.

I now just pack it in jars as much as I can (bang the bottom of jar on counter to settle the eggs), vaccuum seal and freeze. No drying time. I find once defrosted in the fridge, the eggs come out perfect for bar fishing and fishing canal like slower water. I cut into chunks and toss them in borax if I'm planning to fish faster water (which I always do if heading to the Vedder).

I'm exaggerating a little, they're usually OK to fish the next day. Though once they're in loonie sized chunks and I get home, I take them out of the old borax and put them in fridge as is in a sealed container. The next day I don't use any borax, they last forever on the hook.

My lack of success this year is likely more to do with my dislike for waking up early and poor water reading skills than the roe .. that's why it's not called 'catchin' ..haha.

But I haven't fished the Vedder since Oct. 9th. Other years the firecure worked well for coho (well in the mornings anyway).

I'm sure your roe that's in the freezer is OK, especially if it's chum roe. Maybe someone else with more experience will pipe in, I've read on other posts that storing in borax is the normal procedure. I'd just leave it now that it's frozen.

I'll give your dry for couple hours first before curing. I always assumed it would be better to air dry after it's cured .. probably being a little to OCD about this.

 

[NexusGoo]

While cleaning out the freezer last week, I found an old taped up canning jar that had Chum roe from 2008. Thought damn this stuff is ruined, however took it out and de-thawed it and the eggs were fine. Back then we used to light a match inside the canning jar to get all the air out of it and I guess that worked well enough for 7 years taped up in the deep freezer LOL. Will be taking it out on Saturday after a bit of curetherapy to see how it does.

[243Pete]

haha..know what you mean about fretting about one's roe. I'll tell you what I did and you be the judge. This was with pink eggs. I cured them with red firecure according to instructions on the back, never dried before or after, put them in a 250 ml pickling jar, filled jar with borax (no air space as I thought this would be good), vacuum sealed with jar attachment on foodsaver, put in freezer.

6 months later, fished with it. It was a little too dry for my liking. YMMV.

I now just pack it in jars as much as I can (bang the bottom of jar on counter to settle the eggs), vaccuum seal and freeze. No drying time. I find once defrosted in the fridge, the eggs come out perfect for bar fishing and fishing canal like slower water. I cut into chunks and toss them in borax if I'm planning to fish faster water (which I always do if heading to the Vedder).

I'm exaggerating a little, they're usually OK to fish the next day. Though once they're in loonie sized chunks and I get home, I take them out of the old borax and put them in fridge as is in a sealed container. The next day I don't use any borax, they last forever on the hook.

My lack of success this year is likely more to do with my dislike for waking up early and poor water reading skills than the roe .. that's why it's not called 'catchin' ..haha.

But I haven't fished the Vedder since Oct. 9th. Other years the firecure worked well for coho (well in the mornings anyway).

I'm sure your roe that's in the freezer is OK, especially if it's chum roe. Maybe someone else with more experience will pipe in, I've read on other posts that storing in borax is the normal procedure. I'd just leave it now that it's frozen.

I'll give your dry for couple hours first before curing. I always assumed it would be better to air dry after it's cured .. probably being a little to OCD about this.

Got me worried for a bit as I got quite a bit of pink roe and some spring roe sitting in the freezer at the moment. I haven't tested this batch as I used to use Pro Cure and Borax. Hoping nothing really happens to them as they been sitting for a fair bit especially the pink roe.

I do believe the pre-drying process does help a bit, a friend gave me some pink roe this season that had been sitting in for more than 8 hours in a tub with some water in it, I drained the water out and didn't dry the eggs and proceeded to add the fire cure to it, that batch of eggs didn't do so well as they milked out like mad if left at room temp and the shape wasn't very natural.... but the funny part is that it did catch me a good sized wild coho a couple weeks back.

I have a major dislike of early mornings as well but sometimes ya gotta push a bit to get those early biters, doesn't help that I work late evenings till 4am so when I am fishing I am generally half asleep....

I air dry the roe before curing but only till it's tacky to the touch, I don't drain or air dry the roe after it's gone through the curing treatment cause I want everything including the Borax to absord those extra juices as the Borax seems to milk off very nicely into the water and the little bit of added scent might help a bit.

NexusGoo, now that is some old roe!  I thought that using two year old freezer burnt spring roe would be bad but amazingly it did the trick still.

[Spawn Sack]

I've been river fishing for about 8 years now. Bye no means a pro but I do pretty decent for salmon and steelhead. For years I was never a big roe fisherman. I never seemed to do any better than using wool, jigs and so on so I figured why am I going to all this hassle for bait that is a pain to use and not that effective for me.

Then I was at a used tackle swap last year and I bought this book off a guy.

http://www.amazon.com/Egg-Cures-Proven-Recipes-Techniques/dp/1571882383

There are a lot of "old school" curing recipes. I picked one I liked and WOW, I did much better with it this year compared to using the regular pro-cure, patuke, and whatever else I tried. I've had a few coho smash the roe almost as soon as it hit the water and the springs and chum love it too.

I don't think the recipe I used is "better" than the commercial cures, I think just different and perhaps more of a natural result. Think about it...everyone is fishing the same pink or red goop made from the same cures, fish get used to it..."oh, another chunk of procured roe! boring...."...then something different drifts along, different but still good color and smell.

I forget the exact mix but I can look in the book and try and remember what recipe I followed. Eggs came out very natural looking almost like salt water hardened eggs for roe sacks. I only did up one giant spring skien that my buddy gave me, and almost out of it now

I've been catching a ton of chum but I don't like eating them so I dont keep them and have no chum eggs

[Animal Chin]

I forget the exact mix but I can look in the book and try and remember what recipe I followed. Eggs came out very natural looking almost like salt water hardened eggs for roe sacks.

I've been catching a ton of chum but I don't like eating them so I dont keep them and have no chum eggs

Yeah dude, if you don't mind everyone in the wack floating Procure, Pautzke's and the Spawn Special, let's hear it...haha. Nice, thanks for the link. I'm not a fan of the mess either so it's good to know the effort is worth it.

Smoked chum is excellent. Make great gifts.

[FlyFishin Magician]

Do you guys use a vacuum sealer (e.g. food saver) on your roe?  I just took a sampling of my cured spring roe that was already frozen in freezer bags, took them out and vacuum sealed them with the food saver.  I just need to remember to break the vacuum seal to release the pressure before thawing out my eggs.  I'm not sure I needed to do this, as I'll likely be using that roe this year.  But the vacuum sealer does do a great job getting all the air out of the bag as opposed to just using freezer bags.  I found in the past that my roe in freezer bags can last up to a couple of years.  But the fresher the better for sure.

[Animal Chin]

Do you guys use a vacuum sealer (e.g. food saver) on your roe? 

Do you cure your roe first before sealing?

My buddy does them in bags and swears by it. Uncured, and does the cure after thaw. Worked really well for bar fishing. I buy the knockoff Canadian Tire brand bags and my filets sometimes gets loose, he claims the name brand bags won't do that.

My first year I crushed a bunch of eggs, so haven't gone bag to using bags. I guess my cured roe wasn't as frozen as I thought before sealing. I now do it in small jars, but I do notice ice crystals forming in a couple spots (air pockets). The tighter I pack it the less this happens. Seems fine once thawed but I usually fish it within the year.

I may give bags a try again. 

[FlyFishin Magician]

Do you cure your roe first before sealing?

My buddy does them in bags and swears by it. Uncured, and does the cure after thaw. Worked really well for bar fishing. I buy the knockoff Canadian Tire brand bags and my filets sometimes gets loose, he claims the name brand bags won't do that.

My first year I crushed a bunch of eggs, so haven't gone bag to using bags. I guess my cured roe wasn't as frozen as I thought before sealing. I now do it in small jars, but I do notice ice crystals forming in a couple spots (air pockets). The tighter I pack it the less this happens. Seems fine once thawed but I usually fish it within the year.

I may give bags a try again.

Yes, my roe is fully cured and frozen before sealing.  I also cure my roe before freezing, but I do not add any borax until I thaw out the roe the night before I go out.

[RalphH]

prior to most people having a freezer roe was preserved with salt. That's still a good cure. I have heard that to freeze roe it needs to have some of the water removed from the eggs or as it expands while freezing the outer membrane can break. That's partly what sulfates and borax does. Once I knew someone who worked for a fish packer and he got my father a 5 gallon bucket of chum roe. Dad froze it as it was though I said you should put some salt or borax on it first. Dad said it 'turned to soap' and just washed right off the hook and was essentially useless.

FWIW any roe I do I keep with a mix of equal parts rock salt, sugar and borax. Then wrap in newspaper for a day or two to dry out. It's easy and works well near as I can tell. Sulfate cures (Procure or Pautzke's) work very well but sulfate is toxic to fish and studies show it can kills smolts and small trout so I mostly avoid it now.

[Spawn Sack]

RalphH, do you just use plain white sugar in your recipe? The one I used from the book was similar to yours, but I can't remmeber if it was white sugar or another kind of sugar. I think it also had geletin in it (?) I will find the book and flip through it and find the recipe here.

Interesting info about the sulfates and fish mortality. I'm always a bit cautious when I hear "studies show that..." Several studies? A study? I'm not saying this isn't true I have no idea.

I mainly like tinkering with stuff including roe cures. I also like that I'm not tossing the same cure out there as most of the other roe fishermen. The "old school" recipe I used also didn't dye your fingers/hands which I also like. It pretty much came out looking like a regular skein but the roe was more translucent looking and of course mroe dry/rubbery. It looked like a skein of jensen eggs stuck together

[Animal Chin]

I have heard that to freeze roe it needs to have some of the water removed from the eggs or as it expands while freezing the outer membrane can break.

Sulfate cures (Procure or Pautzke's) work very well but sulfate is toxic to fish and studies show it can kills smolts and small trout so I mostly avoid it now.

Funny, that's what I assumed as well.

However, my buddy with whom I fished with all season simply froze his uncured, and cured after thawing did extremely well. This was with pink roe and only frozen for a couple months at most. I experimented with one jar and I just found the roe to be a little drier after having been frozen. The eggs still looked in really good shape, but it just didn't water as much during the curing process. Came out looking the same, though he outfished me..so he must be holding out on some critical step..haha.

I think to be on the safe side I'm still going to cure first. It's just really convenient to come home, throw that days roe in the freezer and forget about it until you need it. 

[RalphH]

white sugar - it was a recipe from Ken Fraser's website - now defunct as far as I know.

AC I am no expert on roe cures - all I know is what I heard from others, read and my father's experience. I think we did the same before that and it didn't work. Quickly frozen really cold may be different. Today's home freezers are way better than what we had back in the 60s and 70s. I wouldn't freeze any fish back then as the results were so bad.

[Spawn Sack]

Interesting, thanks for the info.

I'll share my method and generally my roe catches fish, stays on the hook well, and so on.

As others have said bleed fish right away and gut right away. I carefully place skiens into a big ziplock without touching the water. If im in my boat I'll put this bag in a cooler with ice, if on shore I'll put in the shade and put some wet grass on top or something that will keep the eggs cool as best I can. I live close to the Vedder so if I decide to keep a clean doe I'll often just zip home and get the eggs in the fridge. I rarely fish roe but when I do I want it to be good s**t!!

I place newspaper on my workbench and lay the skiens on it. i take a sharp pair of scissors and butterfly the skeins open, then cut into "fishable" size chunks. Now I cure it however (procure or whatever). When the eggs have cured to my liking I take the chunks out and place on drying racks (on newspaper). They are the racks from my smoker actually!

I like my roe a bit drier so I put borax in a salt shaker style bottle and shake all over the one size. Leave for 1/2 a day, flip all pieces, and sprinkle borax on the other side, leave rest of the day.

When I am happy with how dry it is I put some borax in a container, toss chunks in, and cover with borax. Yes I use a lot of borax!! Then I put this container in the deep freeze. If I know I want to fish roe the next day I'll take the container out an let it sit overnight. Use it the next day and whatever is left when I get home goes BACK in the freezer. Repeat until all gone. I used some roe with good results last week that had been in/out of the freezer 5 or so times and it still caught coho and chum.

My buddy fishes ooey, gooey, snotty roe. Not dried at all. Probably a bit more productive than mine but I just can't handle having a poo-poo hand every time I touch the stuff!! Mine doesnt make a mess on your hands at all and catches fish.

[Kever]

Great info as usual guys.

My process -> butterfly skiens -> sprinkle cure -> put in ziplock bag -> sprinkle more cure -> close ziplock -> shake it around every 30 mins for a couple hours -> drain in collander -> set on racks to dry for at least 4 hours -> cut into bait sized chunks and put into ziplock bag with a lot of borax -> shake and massage ->freeze until the night before use, then thaw.

Pretty similar to other methods. I've been experimenting with Pro-cure, Fire-cure, and plain ol borax this year. I've had success on all types of cure, just depends what the fish are in the mood for. I'll often bring 2 types of roe and switch it up every few re-baits. And don't forget a little bit of light pink wool on your bait loop, a perfectly sized piece can encourage strikes in my experience. (I've also had friends catch fish on just skien so sometimes the fish are just hungry)

[hrenya]

I`ve been playing with pro-cure last year , and I found out:
I butterfly skeins , I put some pro-cure on (I do it on paper towels) , turn them around and do the same . after I put them in plastic container with lid or ziplock , and shake it few times for first 2-3 hours , after I put it in a fridge (usually I do it at evening time) . next morning I shake it again few times making sure juice is covering every spot on skein , and I do it again at evening . for a first day you will see liquid coming out , but after 2-3 day all the liquid will be gone and they become rubberish . I had some luck on that stuff
p.s. I don't cut skeins in pieces  I cut as I go ...