Great Lakers Do It With Big Spawn Bags

By Kyle McClelland | 09/02/2013

When fishing for fall kings I always bring spawn bags and skein. I haven’t found a consistent pattern for when skein works better than bags and figure it’s best to let the fish decide what they want on that particular day.

While the spawn bags can be more time comprehensive it’s important to have them. The following is an easy recipe I use to get good milking spawn bags.

Making Spawn Bags For Fall Kings

Step 1:

Begin with clean, blood free skeins. Butterfly them.

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Step 2:

Take a spoon and scrape eggs loose of the skein.

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Step 3:

Lay the eggs out on a paper towel to get some of the moisture off them. Sometimes when scraped some of the eggs pop. You want that moisture off.

Step 4:

Use a spoon and transfer the eggs into a galloon Ziploc.

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Step 5:

Sprinkle pink or red FireCure into the bag. I’ll start off by doing one layer and then mix up the bag. If some of the eggs are exposed I’ll sprinkle another layer on it. You want to make sure all the eggs are exposed to the cure.

Step 6:

Keep in Ziploc and let the cure work. At times, I’ve used these eggs in as little as 4-6 hours. Other times I’ll wait a few days. It just depends on how much skein I need. If I have the option to let them cure a day or two I will. If I’m going to wait I’ll put them in the fridge.

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Step 7:

When ready to tie the eggs in spawn bags take the spoon and remove enough eggs for a spawn bag. I generally tie decent size bags, probably about the size of a quarter. If I’d have to guess, somewhere between 10-15 eggs would do it. For regular bags I use probably 15 eggs, but if I’m using floaters, as well, I’ll only need 10 eggs because the floaters take up space.

Lay the floaters out on the spawn netting (and add floaters if necessary). If the floaters are small I’ll use 5-8 but if they are bigger I’ll use 3-4.

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Step 8:

Tie your bags.

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Step 9:

Place spawn bags in a jar or container. Oftentimes, to juice them up before I fish, I’ll add some red Pautzke Nectar into it. I like to add enough to make sure the bags are exposed to it.

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Editor’s Note: For more information on McClelland please visit http://www.chromechasing.com/.