Brined Herring

How Ya'll are!!??
 I was cruising the Salmon University website and found the recipe for brined herring.
Has anyone tryed this and what did you think of the results?
 There are a lot of baitfish in the lower river and I would like to keep or "preserve" them for future use.
Any other methods would be welcome as well.
Thanks to those who know, this site has helped me alot.

OOOPS! Maybe this should have been in the "let's talk kayak fishing" forum.

OK.  I moved it.

I've tried that recipe.  It works great and is the one I mostly use on frozen tray bait.

Now ... there are some things to be aware of when catching and freezing your own bait.  Commercial bait operations do 2 things to help keep the bait firm.   The first is to starve the bait for a few days so their stomachs are empty.  The second is to flash freeze the bait.  I'm guessing you can't do the first so it is what is.  And I'm guessing you don't have a flash freezer, but there are a couple things you can do to help keep your bait firm.

Immediately after catching your bait, drop them into a bucket of ice and seawater.  Adding some extra salt won't hurt either.  This will cool them down quickly and not give the meat a chance to start breaking down.  BTW, this works great for any fish, gut them and drop them in an ice slush and see the difference for yourself!

Now, when it comes time to freeze them, I've heard of a few methods that may help.  I haven't tried these myself, but was planning to the next time I go albacore fishing in order to preserve some sushi grade tuna.  Normal freezing results in a more mushy meat in that case as well.  One method is to place a bucket of salt saturated water it in your freezer until it is as cold as it gets.  The salt will keep it from freezing, but it will get as cold as your freezer temp.  When it comes time to freeze the bait, package it up and drop the package in the bucket in the freezer.  The salt solution has a better thermal transfer and will freeze your fish faster than leaving it in air.  Other methods involve more costly ingredients like dry ice and alcohol, and use the same principal of super cooling a liquid and using the liquid to freeze whatever it is you're freezing.

So I've never heard of brining before freezing.  My gut tells me the salt will lower the freezing point of the fish and this may counteract any efforts to flash freeze it.  Indeed, I've re-frozen brined bait and was not satisfied with the results.  I have kept it in the fridge for up to perhaps a month and it will keep just fine for that long, so if you plan on using it in the immediate future, you have an option to not freeze it.  This brine will also keep herring for 2-3 days without refridgeration.

Now, if you just plan on using the bait for bottomfish which don't care so much about a quality bait that's nice and shiny with all the scales intact, just dry salt the herring down with non-iodized salt.  It will suck the moisture out of them and really toughen them up.  This method was used on our recent trip to Ketchikan.

-Allen

Thanks POLE,
the insigt is a tremendous help. most of the bait would be for salmon coming into the river at this time and some for the bottomfish as well. I like the idea of drying some out with salt for the less finicky eaters. would you freeze them when they reached the desired firmness or level of moisture? (my wife is gonna love this)
 Now I have a question from a friend who slurps his sandshrimp for bait and wants to know if anyone has discovered a method for toughening them up or for preserving for a future trip. We can buy them fresh or frozen, but the frozen just dont last, the fresh caught last much longer but die soon and start falling apart on the hook. These are catching the majority of the fish in the Chetco estuary at this time.
 A blast freezer is available to me at times as I know a few business owners down at the port who use them at there restaraunts for fresh food.

No clue here on preserving sand shrimp as I've never tried it.  I do know they die basically from sitting in their own urine.  You can get them to live up to a week by rinsing them often in fresh seawater and keeping them refrigerated.

-Allen

Thanks POLE,
You have a wealth of knowledge! The urine problem can be remedied with a contained system to keep the ugly things alive for quite some time. (until they starve) But would it be worth it for a few sand shrimp? NOT!!
 I think I'll stay happy slurping fresh ones from the mud for now.