# Eggs, fresh, cured, or fake?



## BNiemo (Mar 28, 2019)

As I tumble deeper down the steelhead rabbit hole, I feel I find more questions than answers. Today's quandary is eggs. I recently learned that spawn sacks can be the ticket, but eggs is a broad topic in steelheading. There's fresh eggs, fresh skein, cured eggs and skein, and just recently I discovered Fireballs which seem to be orbees soaked in egg juice. So I ask you, my fellow chrome addicts, what do you think performs best?


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## Eye Doctor (Mar 15, 2014)

Fresh Skein!!! Just adjust your bait size to the water clarity/mood of the fish. Take off all your weight and use the weight of the bait to cast and let it drift naturally. 4-6 pound test and an itty bitty treble.


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## flyphisherman (Jul 7, 2009)

My own personal preference is cured roe (mature looking eggs). Everything works though. Even plastic beads are highly effective.


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## SteelStreamer (Dec 2, 2015)

Steelhead will hit about anything if it's presented right.


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

I quit using eggs & skein years ago. Not worth the stink & mess.


Two words - cooked shrimp.
A piece the size of a spawn sac can work wonders.


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## BNiemo (Mar 28, 2019)

creekcrawler said:


> I quit using eggs & skein years ago. Not worth the stink & mess.
> 
> 
> Two words - cooked shrimp.
> A piece the size of a spawn sac can work wonders.


I looked up the shrimp, seems pretty damn legit. I'm trying it. Thanks for the tip!


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## 1MoreKast (Mar 15, 2008)

Lol we've used "store eggs" as the code word for shrimp on the river LOL

However, I've been out-fished in some good pods of fish because I didn't have eggs. I wouldn't say one isn't better than the other, just personal preference. There will be arguments over which is better but it's all how you present it.


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

"Store eggs" - That's some funny stuff.

Yup, they' re pretty legit. Plus, if you get hungry . . . 

Just like anything else, some days some things work better than others, but they've been pretty consistent
winners for me. I don't mention this often on the forums.

They first rule of shrimp club is, we don't talk about shrimp.


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## 1MoreKast (Mar 15, 2008)

creekcrawler said:


> They first rule of shrimp club is, we don't talk about shrimp.


HAHA! That's awesome


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## BNiemo (Mar 28, 2019)

My wife is going to think I have finally snapped. PS I'm using the shrimp club line on her 🤣


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## bustedrod (May 13, 2015)

fresh eggs rolled around in borax and tied into sacks of couple sizes.


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## EnonEye (Apr 13, 2011)

fresh is always best, but... they stink and stain and... ya have to catch one first to get fresh... a jar of Fireballs don't take up much room and could be the ticket one day, especially on a #12 egg hook and minimum split shot needed to get it (as in 1) bouncin' on the bottom


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## BNiemo (Mar 28, 2019)

What does the borax do? Almost every brine or cure I see contains it, and also sugar. I keep reading that steelhead have a sweet tooth.


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## TRIPLE-J (Sep 18, 2006)

cured eggs for me is all ive used for a loooonnnngggggggg time now
its a personal preference some will say fresh , some will say cured, some say marshmellows ...its all in what you are comfortable with and know how to use..
for me its mostly about making my own and see how it works....over the years i have had some eggs ive cured that are real clunkers ...but over time ive come up with a cure that catches tons of fish and im happy with it ..i can adjust it as needed right on the river....for me its more about it being something ""I" came up with ...i make all my jigs almost all my spoons and all my spinners that i use for steelhead...


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## TRIPLE-J (Sep 18, 2006)

BNiemo said:


> What does the borax do? Almost every brine or cure I see contains it, and also sugar. I keep reading that steelhead have a sweet tooth.


the borax toughens the egg membrane and dries out the egg some ...a box of 20 mule team borax they sell by the laundry soap will last you a long time
but its all in how you take care of the eggs from the start...first thing is to bleed out the fish get all the blood out of it, this will give you a much cleaner egg cluster...from there i rinse mine off in non chlorinated water then cut the skein lengthwise to expose the eggs then sprinkle with my cure and let set overnight in a collander in a fridge or cold place...they will milk out some overnight..next day i cut them into useable size pieces and sprinkle them with a lil more cure and place them in freezer bags,, they will freeze good for a long time this way and you just take out a bag the night before and ready to go the next day


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## wolfenstein (Jan 6, 2014)

Just read an article about cutting pieces of sponge into small "eggs". Dip in melted petroleum jelly mixed with some anise oil. Anyone try this? I'm thinking about trying this year, sounds simple and keeps indefinitely.


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## 1MoreKast (Mar 15, 2008)

wolfenstein said:


> Just read an article about cutting pieces of sponge into small "eggs". Dip in melted petroleum jelly mixed with some anise oil. Anyone try this? I'm thinking about trying this year, sounds simple and keeps indefinitely.


I think I read the same article in Salmon, Trout, Steelheader. Seemed pretty cool.


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## kingfisher72 (May 14, 2016)

Borax is a desiccant and has antimicrobial properties. By keeping the egg surface dry the chance of nasties proliferating is reduced. Eggs coated in borax can go months in the fridge without going off. Uncured roe has about a one week shelf life. 

Any natural egg that ends up in the biological drift of the river is going to be hard or water hardened. So eggs are naturally hard. When they come out of the fish, they lack much water which makes the eggs more dense than water so they sink rapidly to the bottom and get caught in the gravel. Eggs are hydrophilic and want water. When exposed to water they soak it in and swell making the shell more durable as would be needed in nature to afford the protection the egg needs to survive until hatching. 

Hardening or not is personal preference. Rainbows have teeth and can readily pop any egg with ease no matter how water hardened. That said, pressured fish do seem to prefer softer eggs at times and will reject harder eggs. If you're fishing big water and making long retrieves and big casts, a little bit harder egg can be beneficial. Slow and deep winter water a softer egg is usually better. 

Salmon eggs don't do well in the freezer unless hardened a little. Trout eggs seem to do fine frozen without being hardened any. My preference is trout scrape for float fishing. Water is the enemy, keep them as dry as possible until they go on a hook. They have a short shelf life though so if you're fishing frequent short sessions, it is nice to have eggs that will last in the fridge you can grab and go whenever. These get a slight harden and then coated in borax. Get a paint strainer and put the loose eggs in it from the fish. Dip in river water a couple times and then spin the bag in the air to get the water out. The eggs are in the water for less than a minute which makes a firm but not hard egg. Put the eggs in a bag and take home. Lay them out on paper towels and dry off. Put them in day sized portions in quart sized ziplocks. Shake them up to coat the eggs in borax. Seal up the bags and freeze. These are good for years in the freezer and will last in the fridge for up to two months. I have some that I am still working through in the freezer from 2008 that are mint😎. You need a non-self defrosting freezer. Frost free freezers will ruin frozen eggs over time.


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## BNiemo (Mar 28, 2019)

kingfisher72 said:


> Borax is a desiccant and has antimicrobial properties. By keeping the egg surface dry the chance of nasties proliferating is reduced. Eggs coated in borax can go months in the fridge without going off. Uncured roe has about a one week shelf life.
> 
> Any natural egg that ends up in the biological drift of the river is going to be hard or water hardened. So eggs are naturally hard. When they come out of the fish, they lack much water which makes the eggs more dense than water so they sink rapidly to the bottom and get caught in the gravel. Eggs are hydrophilic and want water. When exposed to water they soak it in and swell making the shell more durable as would be needed in nature to afford the protection the egg needs to survive until hatching.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the explanation! You really know your eggs! I'm excited to harvest and cure my own eggs. I really appreciate the info!


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## BNiemo (Mar 28, 2019)

wolfenstein said:


> Just read an article about cutting pieces of sponge into small "eggs". Dip in melted petroleum jelly mixed with some anise oil. Anyone try this? I'm thinking about trying this year, sounds simple and keeps indefinitely.


My wife was telling me about this the other day, I thought she was messing with me!


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## 1MoreKast (Mar 15, 2008)

@kingfisher72 excellent post in regards to your egg knowledge! Really good stuff there.


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## HappySnag (Dec 20, 2007)

when you take the egs home and put them in water they are defrent then when you dip them in river water.in the river water is milt from male and the egs bicome firtelized and start growing ,that make the egs grou biger and harder.


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## kingfisher72 (May 14, 2016)

HappySnag said:


> when you take the egs home and put them in water they are defrent then when you dip them in river water.in the river water is milt from male and the egs bicome firtelized and start growing ,that make the egs grou biger and harder.



No, don't use the water at home. City water has chlorine and well water probably has softeners which can ruin or taint the egg. If you must, get jugs of distilled water from the grocery store. Sperm water is not a thing.

The hardness of the egg has to do with the amount of time the egg is exposed to water. The longer it is in water, the harder or more firm it will be. If you soak the eggs in river water as I described above for 15 minutes or so, that will give you a fully hard egg. They'll bounce around like a bouncy ball when dropped to the floor. Water brine type cures will result in hardest eggs. Most often the eggs you buy in a bait shop have been treated this way for maximum durability. The eggs have gone through both stages of osmosis. This is done because the second stage of osmosis draws the fluid back totally into the egg and if there are things in the brine like salt and sugar, it is incorporated into the egg. Resulting in a sugary egg. I've never found this to be worthwhile over fresh roe.

In my opinion you're better off adding powdered ingredients to fresh eggs. Garlic powder is one. Works well in cold water. You can also put shrimp or emerald shiners/smelt in a dehydrator and then grind into them into a powder if you wanna get real crazy. Sprinkle that in you roe bag jar and shake it up.


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## gotta hit (Dec 11, 2007)

Pautzke Bait Co – Soft but satisfying since 1934


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

In the old days, I used an easy West Coast recipe. Mix dried skein with borax, unflavored gelatin packet and some anise oil. Shake well ad put in firdge. Just cut off a proper sized chunk of skein for bait.




  








borax




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creekcrawler


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Aug 21, 2013


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## thephildo0916 (Mar 4, 2009)

Some really good egg posts in this thread. I use nothing but salmon eggs the entire season. Like many have said before, once you get into it you will develop a personal preference on how you treat them. I am part of the group that will never let my eggs touch water before I cure them. I also prefer to freeze eggs before I use them. I prefer a soft mushy egg over a hard egg everytime. Colville outfitters in new york has eggs for sale that he has personally cured that look awesome. Experiment with what you like, try different cures, let them cure different times, etc. Lots of youtube videos of people showing you how they like to cure their own eggs. Fresh run fish will bite anything that presented well to them, especially eggs. Ive found as the season goes on, and there are more fish in the rivers, sometimes egg cures can make a huge difference, sometimes not. I will say that there is a lot of work, time and money that can go into egg curing. Has almost become a hobby of mine over the years lol


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## allwayzfishin (Apr 30, 2008)

If you can find fresh brown trout eggs, cure them and tie in small different colored sacs. They are like crack to great lakes crome. If you find brownie eggs tho, please pm me. I'd like to have some as I've been out for over two years


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