Roe is by far the most effective bait to catch salmon. Roe is not the only bait to catch salmon, but when cured properly, it is the bait of choice.You cannot buy quality roe in a tackle store! The only way to get good roe is to catch a female salmon, also known as a hen. You must first catch one or ask somebody that just caught a hen for the eggs. Yet, this can be a difficult way to acquire eggs because many die hard salmon anglers will not give up any eggs. They are way too valuable to be given away.
Once you have a hen the first important step is to bleed the fish. This will get most of the blood out of the two skeins of roe the female has inside of her. Next make a small cut in her belly from the anal cavity up to gills making sure you do not penetrate too deep or you will damage the eggs.
Carefully pull both membranes out of the fish and lay them on a paper towel. Pat the eggs genitally until dry.
The eggs will have a membrane covering 3/4 of the eggs. Take a knife and butterfly open the side that is not covered by the membrane. This will allow the curing agents to get into all the layers of eggs. You can even get creative and make up a specialty cure or buy a store bought product such as Pro Glow (my favorite), Pro Cure, or Wizard Egg Cure. Follow the directions on your cure containers for best results.
I will let the eggs sit in the cure for different time periods depending on how I’m going to fish the eggs. When I’m going to back bounce the eggs for salmon, I like the eggs soft so I will leave them in the juices. This will not allow them to get firm. If I’m going to be casting the eggs I need them to be firm so they don’t fall off the hook. I will take the eggs out of the juices and let them air dry in the refrigerator. The longer you air dry them the firmer the
eggs will get. Note: if the eggs get too dry, they will be hard and will not milk.
The secret to having excellent roe is to start off with excellent eggs. Bloody fowl smelling eggs cannot make good bait. Start with good eggs and see how your results will improve.
