Northwest Fishing Reports

What would yall put with store bought prawns or shrimp? Like what cure, or no cure. Headed to cascade tomorrow for some silvers and steel.

Let me start out by saying I am no expert by any means. What I have done in the past is Pautzke fire cure, Pautzke nectar, and a little smelly jelly shrimp/anise oil. Made the prawns a nice dark pink color that fades to light pink after a while in the drink. We have done well on these for sockeye at the mouth of the Okanogan river and I think would work anywhere for salmon or steel. Usually mix and let soak in an old plastic parmesan cheese container.

Nothing. I don't cure mine, or dye them or anything. The fish just like to eat things.

So just get a bag of frozen tiger prawns from Fred Myers and cut em up and fish. Seems easy enough haha. Thanks nate

I don't ever cure mine either. I get the 55 count bags (uncooked) and usually cut prawns in half or 3rds. Best to leave the soft shell on the prawn when using them because it has natural U/V. I love prawns, personally use em more than eggs.

prawn tipped jigs, deadly on cascade steel. It depends on what jig I use, I match the prawn color with the jig like plain borax prawn with nightmare or pink prawn with pink jig or orange prawn with orange jig. but plain borax prawn will work with everything

Pauzke nectar salt n suger

So about half of ya use borax or cure with em and the other half just use thawed prawns. Brat if I was gonna just use thawed prawns what color jig should I use?

DannyL wrote:So about half of ya use borax or cure with em and the other half just use thawed prawns. Brat if I was gonna just use thawed prawns what color jig should I use?

any but I like borax to toughen them up a little and to (I don't know if this is true) kind of enhance their natural UV. Basic jig colors, nightmare, pink, orange, cerise, red doesn't really matter, I hooked cascade steelhead on many different jig patterns, something to try is to watch FFs videos and look at what type of jig he is using, cause if is using them they must work right haha especially if he is fighting a fish on it.

I wouldnt borax em. Takes the good scent off of em and they stay on the hook super good regardless. Use em natural for steelhead. Coho like a little fire cure on em. I tried cascade today. A couple terribly dark coho. No steelhead. Only 3 seen by the guy who runs the hatchery all year so far. Slowest start i think ive ever seen. Lets hope it picks up

fishenfreak wrote:I wouldnt borax em. Takes the good scent off of em and they stay on the hook super good regardless. Use em natural for steelhead. Coho like a little fire cure on em. I tried cascade today. A couple terribly dark coho. No steelhead. Only 3 seen by the guy who runs the hatchery all year so far. Slowest start i think ive ever seen. Lets hope it picks up

Hows the river looking, has it rose at all or is it still low and clear. yeah it seems pretty slow, maybe it will be a late year or something. the hatchery escapement report says it doesn't have any either.

Tonight I cured mine in Alfredo sauce with mushrooms and noodles...really good.

Thanks Danny, we decided on Sky instead. We will weather the crowds.

Toni wrote: Tonight I cured mine in Alfredo sauce with mushrooms and noodles...really good.

nice cure!

Little trick to keep the prawn on a bit longer - magic thread. Hook the prawn and do a few wraps. I like the pauztke's nectar as well.

Mike Carey wrote:

Toni wrote: Tonight I cured mine in Alfredo sauce with mushrooms and noodles...really good.

nice cure!

Little trick to keep the prawn on a bit longer - magic thread. Hook the prawn and do a few wraps. I like the pauztke's nectar as well.

I gotta say that's one of my favorite cures too!!!

I asked Danny (The Freak) about shrimps. He wrote me back suggesting I buy white prawns at the store. I kinda chuckled to myself at first. My first trip out and BAM. Two fish day. Thanks to That Freak White prawns are all I buy. Sand shrimp are good but if its a 50 degree day they get soft and lifeless.I now have 4-6 prawns in a baggie. 1 bag per trip. They last on the hook with many casts.
Theres a Vietnamese grocery on Main St. in Seattle . They sale whole prawns that look like big sand shrimp with the coloring. They are very firm with that nice pink look to them.

racfish wrote:I asked Danny (The Freak) about shrimps. He wrote me back suggesting I buy white prawns at the store. I kinda chuckled to myself at first. My first trip out and BAM. Two fish day. Thanks to That Freak White prawns are all I buy. Sand shrimp are good but if its a 50 degree day they get soft and lifeless.I now have 4-6 prawns in a baggie. 1 bag per trip. They last on the hook with many casts.
Theres a Vietnamese grocery on Main St. in Seattle . They sale whole prawns that look like big sand shrimp with the coloring. They are very firm with that nice pink look to them.

Perfect! Yea steelies love them, uncured and fresh. Hard to beat and no egg mess

So the store bought shrimp that are precook in a bag at Walmart that I bought probably would be no good to use for bait.

Uncooked shrimp with the shell left on would be ok. Cooked no

No scent, raw, shell on. Ranch Market or any of the asian grocery stores usually have a good selection and deals.... I usually remove the shell and put a small bead size piece on the jig. If I'm worried about it coming off while casting, I'll leave the shell on and use the smaller portion near the tail.