How to make and use sun rendered fish oil for the trapline.

How to make sun rendered fish oil

Sun rendered fish oil usually called just plain “fish oil” is one of the simplest and easy to make trapping lures there is. All you need to make it is a clean jar with a lid and fish.

- Making the fish oil

Take your jar and make sure it is clean. Get the biggest jar you can find since you want to get as much fish oil as you can from your effort. Cut the fish up into chunks to fit into the jar. If they fit without cutting that is fine, you don’t really need to cut them up. Fill the jar about ¾ full.

Take the lid and poke a few small holes in the top to let out the gasses that will form while the fish is rotting down. Put a layer of thin cloth over the top of the jar and screw the lid down over it. (The cloth keeps out the flies) Then place the jar in full sun and let it set. You will want to protect it from animals because they will want to get into the rotting fish.

After several weeks the fish should have turned to liquid. Floating on top should be a layer of oil. The liquid beneath it is also sold as “fish oil” by many and “fish juice” by some. You can use either or both for attracting animals to your sets.

- Using the fish oil

Now that you have your fish oil what do you do with it?

Fish oil is very attractive to most animals, even those who usually don’t eat meat.

It can be combines with many different ingredients to increase its attractiveness to a specific animal, as in adding skunk essence to make it into a call lure for canines.

Fish oil is something every trapper should make and use.