The Deadliest Trout Bait
October 11, 2004
Ever wished there was some magical bait that made trout go crazy? One that made rainbows, browns, and all their beautifully spotted cousins as easy to catch as farm pond bluegills? And wouldn’t it be great if this bait was available in large quantities for free? Well, I’ve got some good news here, folks: Such a bait exists.
This super bait doesn’t come in jars or Styrofoam containers; it doesn’t live on wet grass or under logs. It doesn’t wiggle or hop or swim and it doesn’t require much special care. It’s not made out of chemicals and doesn’t have a doughy consistency yet it keeps well in the fridge or freezer. Give up yet? Here’s one final clue: the world’s greatest trout bait comes from the bellies of salmon. Yep, we’re talking about roe here.
Think about it: roe is, far and away, the most productive bait for steelhead, which are nothing but over-grown, sea-roaming rainbow trout. It also proves to be too much for spawning salmon to resist – even when they are genetically programmed to not eat anything when in freshwater. And I’ve caught enough striped bass, catfish, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, shad, carp, suckers and squawfish in my days on roe to know that there’s not a fish in freshwater that doesn’t love a good glob of eggs. So, how about trout?
The fact is trout absolutely love roe. It’s particularly a good bait for stream fishing in the fall when browns and brookies are spawning. That’s when other trout like rainbows and cutts will key in on eggs and a small cluster of fresh roe will work wonders. Roe also shines in the spring, when streams are swollen and muddy with run-off. Truthfully, roe works incredibly well year-round in moving water and is also effective when fished under a bobber in still water.
So, with the beginning of salmon season here, I suggest you get out onto the Feather, Sacramento or American rivers and catch a couple kings. Not only do you stand the chance of coming home with some wonderful barbecue fodder, but you can also obtain some great bait that way.
If you catch a female king, cut the gills and bleed it immediately (actually, do that will any fish you intend to keep and eat). Keep the fish on ice until you get home so that the meat and eggs stay fresh. Fillet it as usual and then carefully remove the two egg skeins from the body cavity – making sure you keep the membrane that holds the eggs together intact. Next, to ensure you get quality bait, take the back side of your fillet knife and force the remaining blood out of the veins in the egg sack (skein) membrane. Wrap your skeins in a paper towel and set them in the fridge for a few hours to soak up excess juice.
At that point, use a pair of scissors to cut the skeins in half lengthwise and then cut those into bait-sized pieces. For trout, the chunks should be about the size of a fingernail. If you plan to do some steelhead fishing as well, cut some dime to nickel-sized pieces as well. After everything’s been cut up, it’s time to cure your baits.
Start by placing your clusters out to dry on newspaper or paper towels in the shade. Since eggs are delicate, don’t let them sit out too long – they’re ready when the become sticky. Flip each piece over onto a dry spot on the paper and allow the other side to become tacky as well. At that point, you need to decide which kind of cure you want to use. The easiest way to go is to cure your eggs in time-tested borax. You can use a sodium sulfate-based cure like Pro Cure or Pro Glow, but I think that trout like the natural taste of eggs in borax best.
All you’re doing with the borax is toughening up the egg walls so that they last longer in the freezer and in the water – it’s as simple as that. The white powder washes off in the water and fish don’t seem to mind the minimal scent it has.
For this process, you need a box of 20 Mule Team Borax (in the laundry aisle at the grocery store), some sort of plastic storage tubs and a glass or plastic bowl.
Into the bowl, drop a few pieces of bait into the borax and, with a panning for gold type of motion, coat each cluster evenly. Then, pour a layer of borax into a plastic tub (like the disposable Zip-Loc kind) and set a layer “powdered” eggs on it. When you get a full layer of eggs, completely cover them with borax and then do another row of coated eggs on top of that. Keep alternating layers of bait and powder until you’re within about an inch of the top of the container. The last layer should be borax – then, just seal the lid and set the tub into the fridge. Let your bait containers cure a few days in there and then you can freeze them at least a year.
Even if you don’t get any trout fishing in this fall, by curing some eggs now, you’ll be sure to have a good supply of the world’s greatest trout bait ready to go when trout season rolls around again.
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