# Borax



## diztortion (Sep 6, 2009)

My Grandpa cured a bunch of salmon skein in borax for me during the summer. He covered them well then packed them in the borax.

I pulled some out and they smelled rotten. Are they s'pose to smell like that?

I had the same results from skein that I froze in borax in the fall of 2010. Rotten smelling. 

What's the deal?

It wasn't a 3-2-1 cure, just straight borax.


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## METTLEFISH (Jan 31, 2009)

An possibility it got too warm?... as long as it was bled, kept cold, dusted well and promptly froze there should be no problems, maybe try Boric acid powder from the pharmacy next time, much more concentrated. Sometimes that stinky stuff wack's em if you can tolerate the smell!...


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## diztortion (Sep 6, 2009)

Yeah, I'll probably end up chuckin' it.. for catfish! :lol:

I'm sure they weren't bleed out properly, qutie a few big lake fisherman don't seem to bleed their fish. 

The other stuff I froze was bleed and promptly cured. It just seemed odd to me. 

I don't use borax much anymore. I usually stick to Pautzke.


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## tannhd (Dec 3, 2010)

I only use Borax, and never have had any problems with a stank.

Rinse the eggs really well in the cold river water. Get all the blood and gunk out. 

Lay eggs out on newspaper, and let them dry a bit. Wait until they are tacky, and then apply Borax liberally. 

That's all I do.


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## optimax115 (Feb 26, 2010)

My dad and I have done this for years. We only use Twenty Muleteam Borax. Washes of as soon as the bag hits the water and keeps the color and smell good. I have to think that yours had gotten too warm at some point and/or was not bled properly.


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## tannhd (Dec 3, 2010)

oh I thought there was only 1 type of Borax, but ya 20 mule team is what I use.


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## Fishslayer5789 (Mar 1, 2007)

20 Mule Team borax is step one. That's the only boraz I use. Take a half of a cup, toss it in a big ziploc, and add a COUPLE chunks of skein. Seal tthe bag and start shaking. Add more borax, then add another 2 or 3 chunks. Close bag and shake until fully coated. Keep repeating this process untill the eggs are dry-coated in borax to the point where you can pick up a chunk and feel ZERO moisture. That is how you correctly cure eggs with borax if you want them to keep. I still prefer rocket red ProCure.


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## METTLEFISH (Jan 31, 2009)

If your freezing it try no cure, I like it just as the fish are used to finding it... no nothing but eggs... then if you cant get em to take add scents....water freezing seems to work best...be sure to shake any air to the top of container.


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## easler24 (Nov 29, 2010)

I don't cure my eggs either. I usually just them as blood free as possible, sometimes "river curing" them with cold river water, then get them dried off with some paper towel until tacky. Then I vacuum seal them in small quantities (enough to make 25-30 spawn bags. 

That works very well. No air in the bag allows them to preserve longer without freezer burn. They don't hold color as long as the cured eggs do, but that's the only downside to it.


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

Al, it is probably just the borax that took the smell on. They can get a little "funky" smelling done this way (especially if not rinsed prior to curing) but might still be OK. It depends on what an individuals stink meter is calibrated to if they are actually bad :lol:. Do they look good or are they "mushy" or "juicing" out? Then they might be toast if they look bad, but I wouldn't toss them just yet if they look good...

I suggest shaking or sifting off the borax, getting as much as possible off them, and maybe adding a little more fresh powder to them to save for use IF they look good. I always refreshed the borax after a week when I used this method for curing. 

They do work well cured this way and keep a while if cared for properly. Give me a buzz on the telephone if you have any questions about any of this.


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## diztortion (Sep 6, 2009)

They look great. Real nice looking eggs, just have a funky smell compared to normal eggs.

I've cured them with borax plenty of times but never packed in frozen. 

They sit in a rack in the top of a chest freezer. I wonder if they got too warm like that. It's hard to say.

Like I mentioned earlier, worse case scenario, kitty bait. I had to stop fishing with skein last fall because they were eating me outta house and home... :lol:


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## Multispeciestamer (Jan 27, 2010)

Boraxofire natural smells odd. But it seems to work. I tried the 20 mule borax thing. Hated it. I used it with single eggs, and after a few cast the spawn bag will have lost its shape and leave the mesh loose, and it smelled after a while. The first time I used boraxofire, I used it like a normal cure it produced the best looking eggs, nice single easy to tie and no residue left over on your fingers. But they went bad after a month, smelled horrible and couldnt get a fish to tuch them any more. Tossed them all. The eggs still looked great but the scent smelled horrible. My new batch of boraxofire I used it twice, once to cure the eggs, and after curing was done to coat the eggs. It produced a good end result. Only thing was it take alot of boraxofire to cure them like that. I am curing up so loose coho eggs as I write this in natural boraxofire. They are producing juice right now. After a few days, ill set them out and air dry them, then coat them with boraxofire again to get the final product.


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## steely74 (Feb 9, 2010)

This has been my 3rd year using Pautzke. So far out of the 100 or so steelies (across 3 states) I've hooked this fall/early winter I can count on one hand how many went for the Pautzke. I use it for the color mostly.This was the first year I really tried different cures and the fish showed a distinct preference for some over others. I have at least 8lbs of spawn cured in this stuff too! I am done with it for this year though. Ill be putting all of it in vacuum sealed bags and freezing it for next fall.


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## wartfroggy (Jan 25, 2007)

Multispeciestamer said:


> I am curing up so loose coho eggs as I write this in natural boraxofire. They are producing juice right now. After a few days, ill set them out and air dry them, then coat them with boraxofire again to get the final product.


 I thought that you said coho eggs were no good? Just give them to me, and I'll find a safe place to dispose of them. Wish you hadn't cured them though.


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## steely74 (Feb 9, 2010)

As far as smell goes as long as it doesn't smell completely rotten or is discolored which is a fine line when dealing with skein it should be fine. Give it a try and let the fish tell you if its good or not. Once during king season about 4 years ago I found a bag of skein that smelled pretty bad just like goldfish flake food. That stank skein produced 4 hen kings for me that day while my skein I cured myself produced one little coho. 

No offense guys I am sure Diz already knows how to cure spawn he wasn't asking for recipes just opinions if you think the spawn is good or not. The topic on cures has just been beaten to death...

Honestly if it is has that iron smell it is from the blood. Just as you said ealier big lake guys just throw their fish in a cooler instead of bleeding them from a stringer. Most likely that is the problem IMO.


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## wartfroggy (Jan 25, 2007)

Like others have said, the only real way to tell is take it out and try it. If it just smells a little punky, try it. If it smells down right rotten, toss it. I have seen some borderline spawn out perform fresh, especially in dirty water.


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## Multispeciestamer (Jan 27, 2010)

wartfroggy said:


> I thought that you said coho eggs were no good? Just give them to me, and I'll find a safe place to dispose of them. Wish you hadn't cured them though.


 I have 16 bags of frozen uncured salmon eggs, most of which is coho. lol. And Yes uncured coho eggs are no good, to me. I have no idea why but when I use them I cant get a fish to touch them. I plan to just cure them up for spring cohos and winter steelies as I need them. Dam spring hos will eat anything.


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

Multispeciestamer said:


> And Yes uncured coho eggs are no good, to me. I have no idea why but when I use them I cant get a fish to touch them. I plan to just cure them up for spring cohos and winter steelies as I need them. Dam spring hos will eat anything.


What!? That's all I've been using this late fall/winter. I've also used it over on the Au Sable in the NE, and hit every single fish I've taken on them. Fresh, uncured coho pump seems to be very good steelhead bait, to me anyways. I haven't kept a hen steelhead yet for that very reason.


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## METTLEFISH (Jan 31, 2009)

ausable_steelhead said:


> What!? That's all I've been using this late fall/winter. I've also used it over on the Au Sable in the NE, and hit every single fish I've taken on them. Fresh, uncured coho pump seems to be very good steelhead bait, to me anyways. I haven't kept a hen steelhead yet for that very reason.


Steelhead do not discriminate be it King, Coho, Laker, Brown, or Steelhead spawn, fish what you have confidence in!


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## Carpmaster (Apr 1, 2004)

METTLEFISH said:


> Steelhead do not discriminate be it King, Coho, Laker, Brown, or Steelhead spawn, fish what you have confidence in!


I dunno if that i 100% true, in the river ONLY, maybe.... Still water, bet your ass they do discriminate!


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