Prawn Curing Tutorial For Steelhead

Here's a method I use for curing leftover shrimp after a steelhead trip. I don't know how I came up with the name 'people prawns', but it was a way I would describe them to avoid confusion with sandshrimp and cured Coon Shrimp used in other fisheries. These are simply shrimp that are sold as food at a regular grocery store and many people refer to them as prawns.

Now, this bait is not to be confused with the cured Coon Shrimp used in the Columbia River 'dip in' fisheries. Alot of those cures are closely gaurded secrets and involve alot more work than the one I'm about to show you. Another bait this is not to be confused with is the cured prawns used in the Spring Chinook troll fisheries.

This bait is a simple and effective steelhead catcher:



To start, I'll take leftover shrimp from a days fishing. These are shrimp straight from the seafood aisle at any grocery store. note the price and quantity:



That package contained enough shrimp for several days of fishing, so you do the math! Cheap!

Now, take your trusty batch of egg cure juice out of the freezer and put it in the microwave on the defrost setting or just let it sit out awhile 'til it thaws. You can use dry egg cure in your choice of colors as well, but I like to use the left over juice I save after draining cured eggs. This particular tub now has juice from about 3 different kinds of egg cure (mostly Cure-All), sardines, shrimp, whole and smashed single eggs and a few dashes of Pro-Cure Anise Oil. Here's what it looks like:



Next I'll place shrimp in the tub until it's just full enough to stir without spilling. I will stir them and 'turn them over' a little bit until the are good and coated:



I will let these soak for about half an hour, stirring them every ten minutes or so. Next I will take a straining spoon of some sort and start scooping them out, allowing them to mostly drain over the tub and then place them on a plate:




I like to pack these shrimp in small bags that I can pull out of the freezer right before a trip. There is no need to pack more than a day's worth per bag. 1/2 a dozen is plenty for a day's fishing, figuring 3 baits per shrimp if using the size shown. I will often pick up a pack of shrimp the morning of a trip while getting ice at the QFC by my house (open 24 hrs....nice!) and have fresh and cured shrimp with me on a trip. Whatever is left over, I will cure that evening.

For freezing, I like to use vacuum bags and freezer rated ziplocs:



To 'vacuum pack' with a ziploc, leave the shrimp a little wet and smoosh them down at the bottom of the bag. Start rolling them from the bottom and push the juice up the bag while leaving one little corner of the bag unzipped. Just as you reach the top, close the zipper the rest of the way as the juice is about to make it out. It should look like this:



You can pack eggs this way, too. Vacuum packing can crush them, the ziploc will not.

Next, label and date the bags and make sure you 'rotate' them and use your oldest ones first:



Well, there you go!

Yes, I know that looks just like the sarding fillet cure method I posted earlier, because it is! This is a simple and effective way to both preserve and enhance fish bait. You can also add other ingredients, different dyes and vary the curing time depending on the time of year and different river conditions. For steelhead, I prefer the 'lighter cure' that I described. You might also try a full cure that takes two days.

To fish these shrimp, tear off chunks of meat and put them in your egg loop with any combination of yarn or corkies that you prefer. You can also tip jig hooks with the chunks and you can fish the smaller shrimp whole, with the shell still on. These baits last for alot of casts and steelhead love 'em!

Good luck!

Ed