I'm heading down to Astoria in a couple of weeks and want to have my ducks in a row. How do you guys brine your herring? I just use rock salt and it seems to work but need plan abcd.
Thanks,
Mike

try a search it seems like i have seen brine recipes on here

Sea water and a couple handfuls of rock salt in a container on ice. I usually cut plug half and leave half whole and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

50/50 rock salt and powdered milk. The rock salt toughens up the bait and the powdered milk sets and really adds some flash to the scales. I usually add enough rock salt to whatever container of water I using until no more rock salt will dissolve (saturation).

Use breezers tip on the powder milk but also add blue dye and scent oils like herring or anchovie.

Save some money, go to the feed store, and get a bag of hay salt - about 3-4 bucks for 50 lbs I use the fine hay salt as it dissolves quicker. I've tried some other things with salt but have decided that salt pretty much does the trick. However, I have found that it is a mistake to plug cut your bait in advance and salt them before using - they loose too much scent and don't work near as well. I salt the whole herring and plug cut them just before hooking them up.

Maybe I'm missing a bet, bt why brine for Astoria? These fish are aggressive. I've always done pretty well with simple fresh herring, that you get at any of the places in Chinook...

Brining them toughens them up so they last longer and also stay on the hook a bit better.
They lose no scent as the scent is in the brine. I've been fishing this salt water for over thirty years and plug cutting them before hand makes no difference. In fact I prefer it so I'm not cut plugging when the bite is on. Fish have a very small brain and when feeding in the salt they aren't real picky.

Thanks guys for helping the new guy.
Mike

I use 50/50 rock salt and powdered milk, but add GREEN food coloring in mine.

Recipe for a gallon of brine: 1 cup rock salt, 1 cup borax, 1/2 cup powdered milk. Dissolve in water. Knew a fellow who used this brine at Sekiu. At the end of the day, all left over herring, fresh or frozen, were plugged and put into this brine. His brined baits were bright and firm; he caught LOTS of fish on them. The dyes and scents sound like good ingredients to try, also.

You can also run a tooth pick along the backbone and achieve the same results! Also, cut a small "V" out of the fart pipe so water passes through. Even though I am not much of a bait guy, a brine will be your best bet.

Here's the recipe that SU instructor Tom Pollack teaches:

http://www.salmonuniversity.com/ol_brining_herring.html

Hope this helps,
-N.