roe discolor!!

[silvio]

Hey everyone i was wondering if someone can help me on this. i put my roe in a mix of salt and water to harded them up a bit. when i went to go check the eggs they were very light in color and almost clear like. has anyone ever had this happen to them? if so can eggs like such still be productive? and is there any way of gettin there color back. at this point i would say they are at a very light orange.

thanks you

[Bassloadingzone]

There is a coloring agent you can buy at most tackle stores I forget what the name of the product is, but they will know what your talking about if you call them, the one that is called double red is fantastic and very easy to aply

[misfish]

If you want,you can boil them.They make great single eggs.Just make sure you have the vent fan on.

[solopaddler]

The reason that happened was because you put the eggs in a solution with salt.

Osmosis me lad, look it up, LOL!

Seriously in the future don't do that. It's not a bad idea to water harden your eggs (preferably with river water) for a short while, maybe an hour or 2. But don't store them in a solution...

As mentioned you can attempt to dye them, not sure if that will work or not.

[fisherguy]

basic food coloring will bring them back. 3 parts yellow and 1 part red. mix with enough water to cover your eggs and check them occasionally till you get your colour back.

[misfish]

ANOTHER TRICK IS BEET JUICE.

[knightfisher]

I have been using salt and sugar in equal amounts and the eggs harden up

nice and retain the colour.

A few bags in the freezer from last year are still in good shape and colour.

[Wes Bender]

I use salmon roe for steelhead. They are normally lighter in colour. I also cure my eggs in a salt solution for 24 hours in the fridge. I am not sure I lose colour but my eggs are some what transparent as you mentioned. I tie them in an orange netting and they look just fine. They seem to work fine for me. I use yarn as well though so thats what I rely on for my attractor.

 

I have seen those powders used to cure/dye roe. I have never bothered to try it as I was worried about scent. A lot of people use Borax to cure eggs as well. But again, does this change the scent of the eggs? I kinda like that food colouring idea while still using a salt solution. I may give that a try next fall.

 

What do you use to cure roe? (question for everyone)

[solopaddler]

What do you use to cure roe? (question for everyone)

 

Absolutely nothing.

Skein is scraped and air dried 'till it hardens a bit, then it's vacuum sealed in small portions, enough for a days fishing.

Mature loose eggs are water hardened briefly, carefully dried off then packed the same way. Sometimes I don't even water harden the eggs, just take them straight from the fish and use them that way. You'll have a much softer egg that's still easy to tie if you do this.

Au natural is by far the best.

I do have an opinion on the various cures available as I've used them all. The best thing to use if you must use anything is plain old 20 Mule Team borax from the grocery store, and not in a solution. Simply sprinkled lightly on the eggs after they've either been water hardened or air dried.

[Wes Bender]

Absolutely nothing.

Skein is scraped and air dried 'till it hardens a bit, then it's vacuum sealed in small portions, enough for a days fishing.

Mature loose eggs are water hardened briefly, carefully dried off then packed the same way. Sometimes I don't even water harden the eggs, just take them straight from the fish and use them that way. You'll have a much softer egg that's still easy to tie if you do this.

Au natural is by far the best.

I do have an opinion on the various cures available as I've used them all. The best thing to use if you must use anything is plain old 20 Mule Team borax from the grocery store, and not in a solution. Simply sprinkled lightly on the eggs after they've either been water hardened or air dried.

 

 

Will a water hardened egg still last with a lot of freeze thaw cycles? I don't use an entire fish worth of roe in a season. For instance, I get roe in the fall for the next spring. I cure the eggs, rinse, and store in the freezer until spring. I tie a bunch of sacks, enough for the spring fishing. Usually 3/4 of the eggs are used up in the spring fishing. The last bit are used in the fall. The cured eggs seem to be fine with pulling in and out of the freezer multiple times.

[solopaddler]

Will a water hardened egg still last with a lot of freeze thaw cycles? I don't use an entire fish worth of roe in a season. For instance, I get roe in the fall for the next spring. I cure the eggs, rinse, and store in the freezer until spring. I tie a bunch of sacks, enough for the spring fishing. Usually 3/4 of the eggs are used up in the spring fishing. The last bit are used in the fall. The cured eggs seem to be fine with pulling in and out of the freezer multiple times.

 

I never re-freeze my eggs. I generally use them before it becomes necessary to do that.

As mentioned they're frozen in packs with enough eggs for a days fishing...

If you do re-freeze them there shouldn't be any issues as long as you dry then off and sop

up any goo that's on them with paper towels.

Any moisture on the eggs will create ice crystals that will pierce the eggs and turn them to mush.

[silvio]

Thanks guys this was a first for me. I always just scrape the skein air dry and vacuum pack it then into the freezer. This was an experiment due to the fact that the scrape skein eggs are extremely soft and a mess to tie I wanted to see how salt cure would work. Trial and error that’s why I did a very small amount. I guess I have to put up with that messy scraped skein if I want fish .

[addict]

loose eggs i let air dry then seal them in quality ziplocks put enoughy egss to tie about 2 dozen bags then freeze.skiens i do two ways.make a saturated solution of water and borax let the skien soak for 20min scrape then let dry abit in a strainer.second method same as the first saturated solution of water and salt place skiens in solution max 5min usually 3-4min just enough to toghen them up.becareful with the salt it can and will turn your roe into dry pellets.these eggs will last for atleast a year if sealed and frozen.many double digit trout days on this cure.

[aniceguy]

water hardens the membrane of an egg almost instantly, hence there really is no need to harden for a long period of time.