Regardless of how you brine and what you brine and how you do it and how long you leave it in the brine etc etc. The bait needs to be firm to maintain a good roll in the water when being trolled and it needs to keep all the scales intact on the herring!....Don't handle them too much and when you do, be careful Natural looking frozen bait catches more fish than an old slab of herring that has no action and is too soft to keep the hooks in place..........Ortho 8)