A gentleman walked up to me on the gravel yesterday and said he would give me the eggs from his just landed silver if I would show him how to harvest them without mutilating the skeins. "SURE," I said.

This got me thinking about all the questions on the subject here on the forum as of late, so I snapped a couple of photos last night when I put them up. Here is the run-down on producing high-quality steelhead bait.

First, bleed before bonking. Getting the blood out of the fish is important. Rinse your skeins under clean tap water and drain. Lay them out on newspaper with the skein side up. They will form an upside down "vee" with a ridge running down the middle when positioned properly.



Next, split them down the middle with a sharp fillet knife so each skein becomes two completly different halves.



The next thing you want to do is roll each of these over your fingers exposing the gaps in the fleshy folds. Sprinkle your cure liberally into each and every fold, then lay them down and sprinke cure on the skein side itself. When you're done they should look like this.



Then put them in bags or jars labeled with the date for curing.



You can do this at room temperature or in the fridge depending on the type of cure or personal preference. The key is to let the eggs dehydrate to the extent that they are going to, and keep turning them over so the cure now in solution becomes homogenous throughout the eggs. At some point they will begin to re-absorb the fluid back through the egg membranes. This can take 24 hours to several days depending on the temperature. at this point they are done. You can freeze them or refridgerate. If the cure you are using is high in sulfate, freezing is best because it stops the cure. Otherwise, such eggs will often become hard and waxy (not good).

This is just tha basics folks. You can go as deep into this subject as you like. The literature is out there. And I am by no means a "pro." Like Parker, I am just an "egg whore" that will deviate from my cure or curing routine at the drop of a hat if I see something that works better (success is an evolutionary process ).

When you are ready to fish, cut the cured skein into one or two-fold sized pieces, depending on the size of bait you want. If you've done everything correctly, it should look like this.



Hope this helps and good luck to all.

Awesome step-by-step pics, and very helpful to any newbie or even seasoned fisherman!

Thanks...some of those ideas are going to get put to work....soon as I catch another hen..

Mike

Thanks for the tips and photos. After you cover them thoroughly in cure are you letting them soak for a time in the bags? Doesn't that make for a lot of liquid?

Appreciate the help.

Take it to the next level and rinse the egg's with bottle or distilled water with no clorine in it,between 36 and 40 degrees.Then layout on some plain white paper towels with no ink on them.This will kick it up a notch or two by getting rid of the clorine and ink on the egg's in the early curing process.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

P.S. Don't forget the rubber gloves before during and after.The curing process.

Cute.

I think I've said this before, but here's what I do:

Bleed your fish and remove the skeins. Take them home. I don't lay them out on paper.

I will take a skein and push/force the remaining blood out of the veins with a pair of scissors.

I will cut the skeins in half (lengthwise) with the scissors.

I use good old NORMAL running cold tap water out of my faucet and rinse the snout out of each half-skein. I get in between each fold with my thumb and give them a hard, solid rinse. I live in Seattle, so it's just city water and I don't purify it because it doesn't make a difference.

Once rinsed, I will plop the skein in a strainer and let drain for about 10 minutes.

I place the skeins in a large tupperware bin, and coat each side with my cure of choice. I rub that in with my fingers, add more cure, and get it to the color that I like.

I will take those nice wet eggs and cut them in to 3" chunks.

I place those chunks, along with all the juices that have collected in the tupperware tub, and place them in pint jars.

I turn my little beer fridge down to 1 (warmest it will go) and will cure the eggs for 9 days in the fridge, and 1 day out at room temperature. I turn the jars over every 12 hours.

I will do this regardless of the cure I use. Either Keith's cure, or UEC. Other than the color, they all come out like this:



The end result is always something like this:



Than again, what do I really know any ways?

Do you Know how to run a sled or row a boat?????.Or just boat whore your way to good fishin.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

What the hell is up with the two fish on the right?

No wonder you post such high numbers.

As far as the forensic extream on the egg prep, we'll see if

in March.

Yes, Yes, and Yes. Any more questions you'd like to ask Strike Zone?

I might be a Boat Whore, but I'm not a *useless* Boat Whore, thank you.

Wow. I thought the only bitter thing this morning was my coffee.....

That was SOOOO Stlhdr1, and not me! I don't keep jacks, thank yee.

Oh yeah, and those are never counted in our final numbers. Well, at least not by me, anyways.

I think Stlhdr1 needs to change his name to Smoltkiller. Last I checked there was a 12" minimum on jacks.

Oh, getting on me for tossing a couple good springer jacks for eaters in the box... They certainly taste better than any fish on the left side of the pic there...

Parker, quit telling the world how to catch fish! Just remember, you had it easy. I took you from diapers and turned you into a man on the river!!!! You truly are my best boat horror!!
Keith

I say good man Keith! Kill all those pesky jacks.

Originally posted by Stlhdr1:
You are SOOOOO due for an ass whoopin Keith, and I hope to be the man that delivers it. I can see your face now. Like a kid that just had his lunch money stolen.

Don't forget, the best bait in the world won't do you any good if you're not in the game, and the Hoh is *MY* playground. Is the slot there, or over there? Oh, I guess it's over here, WOOOOO HOOOOOOO, another fish on for me!!!

Really?? Let's not forget that once you master one river you master them all. Fish are the same no matter where you go in freshwater given the same conditions. I've proved it time and time again. If you honestly think "you" can deliver a whoopin to me, I'd say you are nuts. I seen the pic above of your eggs and you couldn't catch a guppie out of a mudpuddle with those... IMHO Orange eggs suck. :p
Keith

Just ribbin' ya Keith!

Truth is I'll be laughing just as hard if you do kick my ass. It's all about having fun in my vessel. One thing is for sure. The loser will be summarily flogged on this public forum.

The way I was taught to cure eggs relies on the use of a pair of dull paper scissors... the kind that your young kids have in thier school supplies or something.

The result of using these dull, round-nosed cutters is that no eggs are actually broken. The scissor blades do not actually cut the wall of the eggs but instead forces them out of the way as you squeeze and cuts the skein membrane only.

These scissors are used to "cut" the skeins into single bait sized pieces. And then you KNOW that the bait cure mix (whatever you use) is going to coat maximum surface area.