Rinse the skein to remove any blood or other pieces from cleaning the fish.
Soak the eggs in a warm brine solution of 4 cups of water to 1/4 C. Kosher salt. Make sure the salt is dissolved before you put the egg sacks in the solution. Soak for 20-30 minutes. This will help the eggs firm up and you will notice a change in color to a cloudy orange. Don't worry, this is normal.
When the Skeins have soaked, run hot water on the back of them. This makes them shrink and it is much easier to gently work the eggs off the membrane. Some people use a screen big enough for the eggs to fall through, but I find just gently rolling them around in my fingers works them loose. This can be tedious, and you will lose some eggs, depending on how small the eggs are. As you remove the pieces of membrane discard it.
Then I rinse them in gentle running cold water, to remove any leftover membrane. I find using a steel mesh srainer traps the pieces of membrane on the sides as I roll the eggs out of it by just tilting it and letting them slide out.
I usually rinse 2 or 3 times to clean them.
You can use the same brine for the next step, but I like to make a fresh one. Soak the eggs in the brine again for about 15 minutes and then gently rinse them. Let them drain and they are ready to go when they feel a bit sticky.
This is how the egg sacks, which are called "Skeins", look when they are removed from a freshly caught Salmon. You can see the membrane on the outside, and there is more throughout, connecting the eggs. The eggs stick to the membrane very tightly. We have to get them out of it.
It's Salmon and Steelhead time here in the Great Lakes, and I always look forward to it. Great fun, and good eating! In the past I've always cured and used Salmon Roe (eggs) for fishing Steelhead on the rivers later in the season. Now I've come to realize that they have a far better purpose... Caviar! Very costly caviar in most parts of the world. So why not? Here's the process:
