Homemade cured eggs and skein

[Noon]

I have been reading up on how to cure eggs and skein at home to use as bait. What I have found is everyone has a different method and technique. I am not looking to buy any commercial cure or dye and would like the input of some Montanans on what seems to work best. Any and all input is much appreciated.

I am leaning toward using a 1-1-1 ratio of salt, sugar, and borax to cure the eggs followed with a short air dry then freezer storage. Unless I get some decent information on here I guess I will just have to experiment.

[missoulafish]

What will you be fishing for?

[Noon]

I'm interested in checking it out with any species and to see what fish would take it based on my limited (non-existent) experience using skein for bait. But mostly I would say I would be targeting trout. Any input on if it is worth curing my own for bait or is their a simpler technique or bait you would choose for Montana waters?

[missoulafish]

I’d guess for trout, the best bet would be to go as natural as possible. That being said, dried salted eggs aren’t going to be real natural ( in feel anyway) might try to look into something that will cure them and also keep them soft and cause them to milk well. If you start getting into salmon fishing, be prepared to buy all kinds of different cures and scents because salmons scent preferences can change by the hour! I know your method you mentioned will work well for steelhead. The thing with roe is you can have something that looks great and not catch anything on it while the guy next to you can appear to have the exact same bait and will be pounding fish literally every cast because he tweaked something somewhere and that’s where you end up having 5 different kinds of baits with you every time you go out...
I know you mentioned not buying commercial cure but just know that those cures can take a lot of guess work out of the process and they can help you catch a lot of fish.

[Noon]

I’d guess for trout, the best bet would be to go as natural as possible. That being said, dried salted eggs aren’t going to be real natural ( in feel anyway) might try to look into something that will cure them and also keep them soft and cause them to milk well. If you start getting into salmon fishing, be prepared to buy all kinds of different cures and scents because salmons scent preferences can change by the hour! I know your method you mentioned will work well for steelhead. The thing with roe is you can have something that looks great and not catch anything on it while the guy next to you can appear to have the exact same bait and will be pounding fish literally every cast because he tweaked something somewhere and that’s where you end up having 5 different kinds of baits with you every time you go out...
I know you mentioned not buying commercial cure but just know that those cures can take a lot of guess work out of the process and they can help you catch a lot of fish.

Thank you for the awesome response. I guess the short answer is I should play around with it and the reason so many people have different techniques is because fish will be fish and eat or not eat whatever they choose. Hoping to give these some trial runs soon. Ill document my methods as well as successes and post them back here.

Be safe, and tight lines out there.