We fished the Sacramento River a couple of days ago and caught two healthy chinook salmon, 17# and 15#.  Both were still very chrome in color.  The run is just starting and while most of the fishermen we talked to came up empty handed, we apparently did alright with just two.  Anyways, one of the salmon was full of roe (you can guess what the other one had), so we took the roe and put it in a ziplock baggie and put it on ice.  We were jigging for these but was wanting to cure the roe for our next trip in a couple of weeks.  Does anyone know how to cure roe?  I'm sure recipes are all over the internet, but wanted to know if anyone here had a special way of doing it.

Is it in the ROE still? If so I would just cut it into the sizes you want, and freeze them on a cookie sheet or the like for a couple hours then individually wrap them in foil or something like that. (then put back a ziplock and back in freezer) These will be good for short term and the best as far as I am concerned, for the rest pro cure is a good way to go or cut the roe open as best you can and sprinkle borax on the egg sides covering all lightly, let the roe bleed some and stiffen the freeze in ziplock in desired sizes. Also I also re do with fresher fish when possible. Also if the eggs are squirting out then river cure them as you go cant beat that.

Good luck and keep us posted!

We are not allowed to use bait in the streams on our rock, and being a bit thrifty, I allways saved the eggs.
I would cure them with "Pro Cure". On the Pink and Chum salmon, whos eggs are a lighter colored, Id use "Pro Cure- Hot Livid Pink" to color'um up a bit, and then I'd ship'um south to my Bro, who lived on the Rogue.
Quite sad, when ya figure the cost of salmon eggs down south, when I see thousands of lbs of roe dumped, every year!

Thanks. I've never fished with roe, but the fishing reports show that guides are scoring with "back-trolling" cured roe. OK, I'm new to that. No clue what that means. But, if I could cure some roe, I'd be willing to try it. We caught both of our salmon from bouncing home-made jigs off the bottom. My buddy's dad makes them and they're incredible. Cost him about .75 each to make, and about $5.99 and up at BPS. Just saying...

There are many different cures on the market and available at your fishing supply store.  Pro-Cure, Sure-Cure, Putzke, etc.  We will cut the skein lengthwise to butterfly the skein or cut with scissors legthwise so thre is two halves, skein on one side, eggs other.  We put down a layer of cure in the bottom of a tupper ware container.  Cut bait size strips (skein and eggs) , crossways and lay on top of cure, skein side down.  Once you have a layer ofeggs, sprinkle cure across all eggs.  Add another layer of eggs, cure, eggs, cure until all of your eggs are in the continer.  More cure accross the top, cover and let sit 12 hours in a cool location.  Shake them and turn upside down for 12 hours.  If you watch them, you'll notice a lot of juice will form for a while and then the eggs will re-absorb the juices.  They are then cured.  You can leave them in the container, transfer to smaller containers if you'd prefer.  They will keep for a wile in the fridge, but we will normally freeze them and take them out the night before using them.



These are pint jars accumulated from one fish.  About $200 if you were to buy them.



Cured eggs + sand shrimp = more eggs and nice fillets.

i just lay the skein out so the folds of eggs are up then i just coat them with Boraxo laundray soap(but it has to be Boraxo brand or the eggs won't turn out right).After they cure for at least 24 hrs. i cut them to size either for steelhead (small peices) or for salmon (about twice the size of steelhead set-up).then use egg loop hooks and get r done . TIGHT LINES TO YA!!!!