Salmon Eggs

NO! It’s not a picture of a human brain!!! Its Salmon spawn and I have a good curing recipe for you this week.

But first, what another bizarre weather situation we have had this week. Off-shore winds blowing to 50 miles per hour really stirred things up. It was like taking a bottle of Italian dressing and shaking it for two days. The water definitely cooled off about 12 degrees and the rain should have some fish migrating up the tribs. Extreme winds cause extreme changes. The latest coast watch satellite view was showing surface temps in the 30’s. If that is accurate we are talking about water pulled from depths of 200 feet or more during the latest upwelling.

OK, last week I mentioned that I’d like to share a spawn recipe that is very simple and won’t leave you with a pair of pink or orange hands. It works for loose eggs or skein and will keep for a couple seasons if kept refrigerated. This mix was given to me by DNR Biologist and Steelhead guru Matt Coffaro. I have tried dozens of recipes over the past thirty years and they all have pros and cons. I have also tried the commercial egg cures like Pro-Cure which work well but have some pretty serious dyes in them. Preparing with Pro-Cure can be done with rubber gloves but you still have to handle the stuff out on the water and that’s where the pink hands develop. But, this one is easy.

For this recipe you will need:

1 qt Water
1 Cup salt
1 Cup Sugar
1 pack of Orange Kool-Aid

Mix all the contents together in an old ice cream pail or other container that you don’t want to use for food later. It will get pretty fishy smelling. Now place your spawn in the container and make sure it is all covered. Add a little more water if necessary. For Trout spawn let the eggs soak for at least 4 hours. For Salmon spawn let it soak for at least 6 hours. I usually just let it soak overnight. Now remove the eggs and dump out the excess liquid. Don’t rinse them. Place them back in an air tight container and refrigerate. Skein can be cut into chunks and loose eggs will have to be tied in sacks. For a non borax solution, the eggs are pretty tough just from the salt.

You can vary the color by using different colors of Kool-Aid. A little cherry or strawberry will darken them. The traditional orange will color them pretty close to what they look like in their natural state.

Last Week:

The water near shore was near 70 again last weekend before the big blow. Nothing was going on so by Sunday I had enough and headed into the inner-harbor. The Milwaukee River, basically downtown Milwaukee. These views aren’t going to make it to the cover of Outdoor Life. This is urban fishing at its finest. These spots have developed heartwarming nick-names such as “The Sphincter”, and “Homeless Bay”. I have a saying about the spots we fish at down town, “If you ever had to give the city and enema, you’d put it in right around where we are fishing”.
But hey, if you can get past the sound of trains, sirens, traffic and a dull hum of valley industry, and the smell of cattle slaughter and that weird silty smell that seems to be anywhere near the river, it’s a pretty amazing fishery. I will get into it in greater detail later this year because this is where I fish open water all winter.
Well last Sunday I headed up there for less than 30 minutes and hooked three Walleyes and landed two. The two I landed were 20” and 22” and the third one I lost looked about the same. Not bad for downtown Milwaukee.

Next:

Well, hopefully I will have some good news to report from Lake Michigan. And, I am starting to get the Musky itch so maybe we can talk a little light tackle Musky fishing.
Till then, tight lines and smooth drags…