Fire Power for Sac River Kings!
Pautzke Fire Power Krill is an essential ingredient in todays salmon egg cures.
Nickel size baits are best for Sac River King salmon.
We're edging towards the historical peak of the fall salmon run on the Sacramento River here in Corning, Ca. but the salmon God has apparently failed to remind the King salmon its time to push upstream. This years King salmon run on the Sacramento River was forecasted to be one of the best in several years. Well, lots of guides and recreational anglers are going bald scratching their heads trying to figure out where all these salmon have gone. The ocean season started out with big numbers and the in river King salmon openers were pretty good as well. Since then, its just been small pods of fish spread throughout the system and no one has experienced any consistently good salmon fishing. I've been running trips almost daily since the August opener and not one of our three guide boat Captains have come in with scores over five Kings in the box no matter how many lines we're running on any given day. Its created a lot of frustration for our guides and clients as well, but in the big picture, we're coming in with above average scores when comparing numbers with a lot of other boats. I attribute a lot of our success to fishing experience, but above all other things, its our great bait that keeps us in the top tier of the fishing guide industry in Northern California.
Well prepared eggs will appeal to the Kings and they won’t let go when they bite them.
Good bait is critical when fishing for King salmon on the Sacramento River. That can't be disputed and never is in my circle of friends, guides, and fellow fishermen. Like all good salmon guides, theres always three or four varieties of cured eggs in their boat to cover their day on the water while fishing with clients. Most have base cures on the Sacramento River and add to them throughout the day attempting to dial in the flavor for the day or the particular bait that will trigger bites from these finicky fish. Its no different for me day to day, but there is a component to my cures that is ALWAYS present, and thats the use of Pautzke's Fire Power (powdered krill).
I ordered several cases this year, but ran out and had to get more! Next years order will require a pallet forklift and freight shipping to my front door. Krill is a really a big deal and I've been keeping track of my best performing Pautzke bait cures for years. Its no big secret that salmon like Krill based scents and I prove it to myself every year, over and over again. Its not just powerful for egg cures, but its also super beneficial on many other baits like Sardine Wraps, Fire Corn, and in steelhead/trout baits as well.
My base cure for Sacramento River King salmon.
3 cups of red Pautzke Fire Cure
1/2 bottle of Pautzke Fire Power (powder krill)
1/2 cup of sugar (early season)
1/2 cup of sea salt (late season)
1/4 cup of red Pautzke Nectar
I pour the above ingredients in a blender and thoroughly blend them together until the cure is a fine texture and all ingredients are completely mixed up. Its important to get all the ingredients spread evenly through your eggs during the curing process. Once the mix and blend is complete, I put all the mix in a gallon plastic baggie. I'll pour the mix into the empty Fire Cure shaker bottle so I can use the shaker to apply the cure mix to my eggs when I'm ready to cure.
Just a few good squeezes of Nectar does the trick. Too much and the eggs will juice out but not re absorb all of the extra juice from the Nectar.
After laying out your open egg skeins, shake a layer of the Fire Cure blend evenly over each skein, berry side up. Make sure the cure is in all the egg folds and covers as much of the berry side as possible. Turn the eggs over and shake a light coat onto the membrane side of the skeins. Place them in a gallon plastic bag (no more than half full and I prefer a 1/4 of the bag) and roll them around gently for a few minutes until they start to juice up. I then re open the plastic bag and add a 1 second burst of Pautzke Nectar to the bag. I zip the plastic bag and I roll the eggs around for a minute or so before placing them into my bait fridge. A lot of guides leave the eggs at room temps so they juice out more quickly. My garage averages 120 degrees all summer so my eggs go straight into the fridge. This slows the curing process a bit, but I don't want to warm up my eggs. I save that step for the day on the water after I've cured them and fish them.
Once the eggs have juiced out and re absorbed the juices, I pull them out of the plastic baggies and drain what little juice remains on the eggs while in the fridge. Once the eggs are free from excess juice I get them ready for the paper towel burrito. The last step before rolling the skein in the burrito is to add more Pautzke Fire Power! Roll the paper towel burrito and place them in a plastic bag. Mark the bag with your cure type and date them. This will help later on when you pull them out to thaw before use on the river. This is a killer cure for me and is a top base cure for just about any day I spend on the river when fishing for King salmon.
