Union County Angler Shares Soda Curing Tips for Chinook Salmon Eggs

“Every fly fisher has a dark side and my dark side involves the regular use of bait.” That admission by Dennis Dauble sets the tone for his account of chasing chinook with cured roe, and he follows it with another candid line: “I admit it, my fishing career began with bait when I didn’t know the difference, and I continue to fish with bait despite converting to hair-wing flies long before artificial lure-only regulations.”

Dauble frames his baiting confession with a bit of music. He opens one scene with a Taj Mahal lyric that underlines the point: “Many fish bites if ya got good bait Here’s a little tip I would like to relate Big fish bites if ya got a good bait.” The song excerpt punctuates his practical take on why anglers still pack and cure spawn for chinook runs.

The boat trip he describes brings the technique into focus: “I had not considered all variations on the cure theme until I jumped on a boat with pro-staffers from Pautske Bait Co. to hover fish for chinook salmon.” The crew’s preparation was vivid, “A team of 30-somethings showed up with a 50-gallon cooler filled with glass jars of roe in colors ranging from 580 to 740 nm wavelength on the spectrum scale (i.e., all possible variations on the color theme from orange to red.)”, and Dauble’s sensory note captures the result: “Their cured roe looked good enough to eat on a sesame-seed cracker and I wasn’t hungry.”

Curing culture and commercial products surface in his account. He writes a mental image familiar to many bait users: “Say the word ‘roe’ and the spawn of salmon liberally dusted in BorX O’Fire comes to mind.” That single-brand reference and the range of jarred colors imply the variety of cures and additives anglers bring aboard when targeting chinook.

Dauble brings the scene home with a garage-storage vignette that reads like a local angler’s inventory: “With thoughtful shifting of shelves, boxes, and assorted dimensional lumber, a 4.5-cubic-foot refrigerator found space under an electrical junction box in a far corner of the garage.” He notes how the refrigerator is packed into an angler’s toolkit, “The refrigerator is shrouded by an electric trolling motor, a 14-foot, 2-piece sturgeon rod/reel, and spare golf clubs.” Practical details continue above the unit: “Hung from 20-penny nails above is a fly vest, two willow-weave creels, four-piece fly rod in a sling pack, and three long-handle landing nets.”

The account reads as a local angler’s confessional and field report: Dauble mixes practical observation on cured roe, brand names like BorX O’Fire, and exact gear counts, a 50-gallon cooler, glass jars, 580 to 740 nm color notes, a 4.5-cubic-foot refrigerator and a 14-foot sturgeon rod, to explain why bait remains part of the chinook equation even for anglers who have long cast flies.