Roe sacks....

[Leaseman]

Question for you people....

I do a ton of sturgeon fishing starting usually in March and running through to Novermber....

One of my favorite baits is roe, which I get buddies saving for me from the Fraser to WCVI..... therefore I have roughly 70 pounds here at home and another 50-60 pounds at a buddies place...(he is a dino fisher too)

When I get fresh roe, i fish it a certain way and spider wire it on the hook. When I fish frozen, it is too soft and I need to do it up as a roe sack, roughly tonnie size....

Here is my question..... it takes a ton of time and very messy do up the sacks...leaves a hell of a mess on the boat so i do it up at home an re-freeze the sacks....Does anyone have a quick, easy way of doing their sacks...I find it soooo time consuming, its a real pain in the butt....!!!!

Thanks for any ideas!

Mike

p.s- can go through 30-40 sacks on some days...that is were the time comes in...

[c.r.hunter]

How do you currently tie them? What size mesh do you use ect...?

[115 or bust]

The guy we go with always uses single eggs in the sack and its really clean.

[Kechika]

I use nylons and tie em up with 6 pound test.I pre tie at home to save the boat from the mess.That egg gunk stains the aluminum

[Leaseman]

we use the 4 inch square mesh...pink or red in color....wrap and spider wire shut.... another problem we have in the slower currents is the thousands of pike minnows etc that pick away at the roe....funny to watch when you have newbies with you and they are forever jumping to the rods.... we can have all 4 rods going at once with these pesky fish biting.....action starts when they stop nibbling....;)

[Leaseman]

How big do you tie them Mike....had heard about the nylons...easier to do?

[Gateholio]

Not an expert at all, but we used cut up womans nylon stockings, seemed to hold the roe in place and wasn't picked off too quick.

[srupp]

Mike I have 30 FEET of egg mesh here...let me bring some down...I probably wont ever use it all..I bought it through a supplier..


Steven Rupp

PS THANKS FOR THE COOKBOOK..we had the chicken recipe...Mc Nuggets from Mcedeees...lol

[Kechika]

Golf ball to tennis ball.Really easy to tie and as Clarke has stated the little buggers cant really get at it

[Leaseman]

Hi Clarke-
thats the same principle as I am doing now....what I am trying to find is a faster, cleaner way of doing it....taking frozen roe out and let it stand a bit, then cut off chunk sizes I want to use...seem to only have a very short window before it turns to goo, then its a pain to work with!! Short of being in and out of the freezer constantly (read as wife now smells roe in HER freezer), I was looking for a thought from you boys....

[Leaseman]

Your welcome Steve...hope you both enjoy it ...yes I know, you can look at the pics and Sue can do the cooking....:shock:

You will be too busy fishing to tie roe sacks buddy...!!

[Gateholio]

If I was trying to do something liek this with food, and the principles are somewhat similar, here is what I woudl do:

Freeze roe

Remove form freezer, cut up into sizes you want, place on tray

Return to freezer to firm up

Remove one at a time and tie them up

Not sure if that helps, but when dealing wiht gooey stuff int he kitchen, it's one method. Standing int he freezer and doing it also works, but I bet your home freezer is too small:-P

[Deerwhacker]

DONT REFREEZ ROE!!!
Refrozen roe has a realy goey consistency and does not work half as good as fresh or once frozen roe.
Personaly after roe is thawed out it gets used up and whats left thrown in the river. I know alot of guys that do alot of dino fishing and none of them refreez roe ,that is the first mistake I made while out sturgie fishing (you simply will not catch as many fish)
An idea would be to pre tie your bags mabee the night befour or prior to heading out.

[Deerwhacker]

Or madee keep a square of plywood it the boat for bait tyeing.

[plumbob]

We would just cut into chunks prior to freezing it,it helped but can still be messy.Have you tried ditch eels?

[Browningmirage]

See i have this problem when i am doing steelie bags...I sit down, all good intentions to tie for hours, then tie 4 get pissed off, and walk away. Then ill come back and tie some more...the process just keeps repeating itself.

There is a jig that you can buy for steelhead roe bags, cant see it being much different, but i have heard that it doesnt make things any easier.

I have a piece of wood (something a bit smoother with smooth edges would be nicer), holes drilled in it. I lay the sack over top and fill with eggs. It works pretty good.

[Leaseman]

plumbob....

ditch eels are an excellant bait....but since a year (plus) ago, the fisheries in their infinate wisdom classified them as a fin fish which means a hook and line is the only way to catch them....:shock:....use to get ticked at paying .50-1.00 per eel...now would be more than happy to pay that!!!!

Yougfella.....
for sturgeon you need bait that is basically found in the river.... nothing cured etc.... these fish know what is in the river and when..... in fact, fresh to frozen bait, the same thing, fresh will outfish frozen 4 or 5 to 1....

Deerwhacker....
have re frozen roe for years.....to me there doesn't seem to be a diff in the numbers we catch....

Clarke....
great idea... too simple for me to think of!!!! figured it should have been more difficult....
Thanks!!!

[Chuck]

Just an idea.......but can't or don't you dry it up a little bit by lying it out on plywood in the basement for a few days first and coat each side with borax?
Then cut it up when its like soft cheese and tie it in mesh sacs then freeze it.
How about chicken livers? I heard they work - and not as messy.

[Dirty]

Easy way to keep things clean when tying and baiting in the boat. We bring one of those mid size rectangular tupperware containers (Approx 1.5ft x 2ft x 0.5ft). We put all our bait in there and place it on the doghouse when baiting and tying bags. It contains all the mess. Then just wash your hands in the river and away you go. We found that this size fits perfectly on the doghouse.

[115 or bust]

Gonna take'm on a black ant on the 4 weight andy??

[SHAKER]

As far as I know their is no faster way to do it then buy a case of beer and get a couple of friends to help do it the night before. Messy, slimy, smells like victory:wink:........ and yes it really isn't fun but the rewards are great. Some one mentioned to salt your roe.......in my experience DON'T. I've fished beside people with all kinds of combinations and fresh roe far and above dominates. Alternative baits do work but the only thing I've seen even close was Eulegons when the time was right... but roe still out fished 2-1.

Almost forgot, Don't over fill your sacks, makes it hell to get them closed up!

[spreerider]

I havent used roe in a long time but me and my dad used to preserve it in salt and fill womans stockings and tie it with 4lb test.
we would make up a bunch at a time and freeze them ( mom hated it) then we would just grab the bucket fromt he freezer and go to the river,
I had heard there was a bait ban on our local rivers ( im in port alberni) but i never confirmed it. I havent really done much river fishing since, but my kids are almost old enough to come out to the river and catch some small trout.