Setting the record straight. Fire Cure is primarily used to create great bait from salmon roe to fish for salmon. BorX O Fire was engineered to create great bait from salmon or steelhead roe to fish for steelhead.
The question asked often, “Can BorX O Fire be used to create baits to fish for salmon?”
Answer – Absolutely,
BorX O Fire works fantastic for curing salmon roe. It is also ideal for creating a bait that is durable and last for several cast, milks out a great scent trail and flat out catches fish.
True, BorX O Fire right out of the bottle is great for steelhead. When it comes to salmon, we need to make a few changes to enhance the bite!
You will need the flowing ingredients to create the ultimate salmon egg cure;
1 bottle of BorX O Fire (Red is ideal)
2 heaping tablespoons Fire Power Krill Powder
1 heaping tablespoon of Sodium Sulfite
½ cup of white refined sugar
You will also need a bottle of Pautzke’s Nectar and one bottle of Red Fire Dye.
Mix the powdered ingredients in a container thoroughly. You will use some to cure your eggs, the rest can go back into the jar for storage. Mix the powdered ingredients in a container thoroughly. You will use some to cure your eggs, the rest can go back into the jar for storage.
Now, let’s get started. First, we need to make sure the eggs are blood free.
By using the edge of your knife or scissors, you can push the blood along the vein. A small cut anywhere along or at the end of the vein allows for the blood to be absorbed away with a paper towel.
Once the eggs are clean, they are ready for cure.
Pictured above are skeins from two separate fish. The one on the top represents eggs that are bit more mature with loose skin. This cure is ideal to help tighten this skein so it will fish more durable. The skein on the bottom represents a skein that is tighter with skin more intact.
You can still use this cure mixture to cure a tighter skein, you will need to simply butterfly this skein slightly to open it up.
Next you simply sprinkle on the cure. Make sure your skeins are laying skin side down, egg side up. Sprinkle on enough cure to cover the eggs pretty well, as seen here. There is no need to worry about burning the eggs or over-curing as this is a mixture with a light amount of Sodium Sulfite, burning your eggs is not really an issue.
I will typically lay my egg skeins out on some paper towels so after the cure is applied, I simply pick up the eggs with the paper towels and dump them into my gallon zip-locks. It’s a lot less messy to do it this way.
Once in the zip lock, you can sprinkle a little more cure on the top of the skein, but more than likely there is enough on the eggs.
Next you can add one tablespoon of Nectar, per skein of eggs in the bag. The Nectar is egg juice and does two things. It helps to mix the cure into the egg skeins as you gently tumble the eggs around in the bag. I also helps add more volume to your eggs as they reabsorb the egg juice and Nectar during the curing process.
You can also add a couple tablespoons of Red Fire Dye. This is a personal choice, I really like the eggs to be dark red, so I will always add Fire Dye to my eggs.
Now you will need to gently tumble the eggs around n the bag about every 30 minutes or so, for the next couple hours. This ensures that the cure is evenly mixed throughout all the skeins.
Once thoroughly mix, allow the eggs to sit at room temperature for the first twenty-four hours. Room temperature would be similar to garage temperatures in the fall, 45 to 65 degrees. Putting the eggs in the refrigerator to early will slow the curing process and they will not absorb most of the juice back into the eggs.
Finally, roll the air out of your zip lock and place your eggs in the refrigerator for the next twenty-four hours.
The eggs are completely cured, now we want to cool them down and firm them up.
Your eggs are now ready to fish. You can leave them in the refrigerator for a couple weeks if you plan to fish. If you are not fishing for several weeks, I recommend freezing them. If you plan to fish, you can dump them into a colander and drain off the slight amount of excess juice.
You can cut them into bait size pieces before you head to the river or just place them into containers as is.
I prefer to leave the eggs in the skein size I cure them as. This allows me to cut them into the size of bait I need depending on if I am fishing for Coho or Chinook.
FINALLY….
I place the skeins into containers lined with paper towels. I will lay a couple skeins in and cover them with a paper towels. Then a couple more skeins and more paper towels. I do this the night before I plan to fish. This really gets the skeins firm and durable. They will still milk out a lot of scent and juice and fish very well.
Follow this recipe and be prepared to fill your cooler. Duane Inglin