best coonshrimp cure - best salmon egg cure

Butterfly skeins lengthwise down center of skein then cut into large chunks or bait-sized clusters.  Clean blood from eggs!

Method: After eggs are cut into desired sized chunks, place layer of eggs skein side down in a plastic container, large glass jar or any other plastic/glass container you prefer that does not leak. Sprinkle on moderate amount of UEC (thin noticeable layer of cure covering the eggs, equaling roughly 1 ounce of cure to 1 pound of eggs).  Put another layer of eggs over top of first layer and apply cure repeating the above step. Repeat until container is near filled with eggs (important leave at least 2” + of room between eggs and lid to allow room for movement of eggs during shaking and curing process). Allow eggs to sit for 10 minutes at room temp or so until juicing begins. Shake eggs well to confirm all cure is dispersed through egg skeins evenly. After an hour has passed and all cure is dissolved and heavy juicing has occurred, give one more good shake up and place container in a refrigerator. Let eggs sit in refrigerator 8-12 hours and shake up again and place sealed container back in fridge upside down and allow juices to cure top half of containers eggs. Repeat process shaking and flipping container every 12-24 hours for 72 hours. You will notice eggs will juice out in beginning of process then absorb most all juices back up and at roughly 72 hours begin to slowly juice out again. Eggs can sit in fridge during curing process and can be fished fresh up to 2 weeks before needing to be frozen. If eggs won’t be fished inside the first two weeks, freeze eggs at the 4-7 day mark of the curing process with the smaller berried eggs closer to 4 days and larger berried eggs closer to 7 days. When freezing, it’s recommended to use sealable Pint or Quart jars. Softly pack jars full of eggs up to within 1.5” of top of jar and disperse remaining juices from original curing container into jars evenly then freeze, remember when freezing product will expand so leave room not to crack jar from expansion. The more juice added back in and kept with eggs the longer the eggs will last in the freezer, dryer eggs when jarred will likely freezer burn quickly.

If cured correctly and eggs are jarred wet with enough juice to fill the air void in between eggs these will last 20+ years in the freezer.  The freezer burn happens when dry eggs are frozen allowing eggs exposure to air in the jar.

Your best end product will come from eggs that are the freshest from fish.  Fresh eggs taken from a fish and kept cold and cured within 12 hours make the perfect finished product.  Those eggs are best when nearly all blood is wiped from eggs before curing.  If eggs sit in container or bag for 12+ hours they start to break down and will not produce the firm and plump product as fresh does.

Like curing eggs, Ultimate Egg Cure can be used to cure Prawn chunk baits.  Prawn Chunk Baits are fresh frozen non-cooked prawns from the grocery store in the 20-30 count or 41-50 count frozen, again these are NON-COOKED prawns.  Thaw about a pound of prawns and peel them.  Cut prawns in the chunk size baits, roughly the size of a dime to a nickel keeping the cuts as spherical as possible.  In a pint jar, layer Ultimate Egg Cure and a 1-2" layer of prawn chunks repeated with Ultimate Egg Cure layer then again with prawn chunks until desired amount of bait is curing.  Feel free to add your favorite salmon or steelhead scent and shake well, bait will be ready to fish in 6-12 hours.  Prawn chunk baits are a guides choice for inexperienced fisherman or kids as they're extremely tough bait and are very difficult to get off the hook.  Prawn chunks are also a great choice when lots of smolt are present eating your eggs up too quickly, the prawn chunks are hard to remove from the hook and often can be used on multiple casts.  A winter and summer steelhead's favorite baits!

Like curing eggs, Ultimate Egg Cure can be used as the best Coonshrimp cure on the market.  Coon shrimp are fresh frozen cooked Coon shrimp or Prawns from the grocery store or seafood market.   

To cure 5 pounds of shrimp, start with 1 gallon river or bottled water on stove at simmer and add 1/2 bottle UEC.  Keep adding  Sea Salt until no more salt dissolves.  Let formula cool then fill quart jar with thawed cooked Coonshrimp or Prawns and ladle juice formula into jars.  Add your favorite Procure oils and scents or fish oils to enhance the bite!  Remember a Coonshrimp or Prawn is just a big scent sponge!  To extend shelf life in the fridge add 1/4 cup rock salt to pint jars and 1/2 cup rock salt to quart jars at the end of the curing process.  This will extend the shrimp shelf life for the years ahead.  This will make the best Coonshrimp cure and Prawn cure but also makes the best steelhead egg cure, best salmon egg cure as well.  See Ultimate Egg Cure bottle for additional curing directions.