Home made Lure
 

Lots of ideas on home made lures out there, trying this primarily for Marten but likely work for other critters as well. I have let a pail of white fish simmer all summer and now its mostly slop with some fish scales and bones, planned on mixing some of that with skunk essence, bacon grease and vaseline. It's just a trial run to test it out, sound like it will work?

What have you tried?

It should work as marten(and fisher) are an opportunistic predator/scavenger that will eat virtually anything; berries, birds and eggs, fish and of coarse MEAT. Thus, many types of food and LURE will attract them.

I have used just beaver castor with a couple drops of anise with good success on both marten and fisher.

For cold weather potency I have Pure Skunk Essence for sale @ $30/oz. regular shipping included (4oz available). Extracted September 2018.

With the fish slurry you have... once the fish have deteriorated enough it will just be sludge with a light colored oil floating on top of the sludge. The jar you keep the fish in should have a small nail hole in the lid so it vents off the gases and the jar should be in the sun for up to a year. It is this "amber" oil that floats to the top you want to use. Mix with a bit of glycerin for cold weather. The left over sludge can be used but it is the amber oil that will make a good lure that can be used for most of the weasel family (mustelids).

thanks for the info, I will give that a try.

How much would you get from this. Say a 5 gallon pail of fish.

How much would you get from this. Say a 5 gallon pail of fish. I am curious more for bear hunting. Or for bears is this worth it ? What does the glycerin do?

The trapping course i took talked of this but i never asked the question there.

Glycerin or glycol is used as an antifreeze in lures and also gives it a nice thick liquid consistency. When making fish oil try to use a fatty fish. And from a five gallon pail I usually get around a big jar full. Just about every animal likes it bears included. I usually save a bunch of heads and what not in March from ice fishing and keep the pail sealed in the sun until mid to late April for bears than hang it in a tree after cutting some holes in the lid. No matter how you hang it they'll get it eventually but she stinks.

You can also use corn oil instead of glycol. Its a lot cheaper and freezes pretty much the same at about minus 10. I use it in beaver lures. Anything colder use glycerin.

Ok glycol makes sense to keep it from freezing.
What is a fat fish-rainbow tout , walleye?

So if you had this 5 gallon pail full of fish in July, the oil in the pail will be hatched by spring ? Do you keep it fermenting over winter in a warm shop? Or am i out abd this is a 2 year project with only sunlight required?

Ya any trout, suckers, salmon etc. Start in spring and by fall it should be done. The oil will be on top and other juices with be underneath that. You can use any fish those are just the best. Keep it in the sun and make sure flys cant get in it but gases can escape. And what ever you do don't get any on you.

So is this the heat within the pail almost as a pressure cooker or the sunlight its self that does the deal. Just thinking over winter here if i try.

I am guessing the heat.

Heat. Use a black bucket. As said before dont let any flies in...
Bill

Ps. If you want your heated shop to stink to keep the wife out of there. Keep the bucket venting in the shop. Hahaha

Thinking on the fish oil here , should one grind up a fish to speed this process and if so should it be gutted first or does it matter?

Cutting up the fish will speed up breakdown but it still takes time for decomposing and for the amber oil to "brew" to the top. When the oil rises up to the top underneath is nothing left but sludgy slurry. You could try to use the slurry poured over popcorn for bear bait but I don't know how it would be.

If you are thinking of using the oil for bear scent lure you could try adding a few drops of anise oil. Smells like licorice. A few furbearers can be attracted by anise. Using the amber oil for fox add a couple drops of skunk essence.

Also, Just thinking that plastic pails may possibly impart a plastic flavour to the oils. Especially cooking in the hot sun. I always used 1 gallon clear glass jars with one nail hole in the lids.

Thanks I was thinking about grinding it skimming the amber oil at the top then keeping the chunks below as well. The chunks would be just part of the regular meat scraps and keep the oil for more of a vapour lure.


I was thinking of using one of them old hand crank grinders To speed up the process being specifically for fish where as it would just stay fishy as I have a Cabelas one horsepower for meat.

Should fish guts be discarded right off the bat or can they be part Of the oil gathering process?

I think your over thinking it. Bears dont care. I wouldn't separate the oil, take fish cut into a few pieces guts and all throw in 5 gallon pail with lid, let rot in sun for a few weeks put it out with holes in lid tied up in trees. Dont put it on food and dont spill any on you. Done.

When the fish decomposes their won't be any chunks. Leave the guts intact.

I used whole white fish and after the summer all there was left was scales, bones, and slurry, the oil was just forming on the top. I used a metal pail which I came to realize was a mistake, pail started to rust and scale. I had also wondered about using plastic but will just skip to glass jars next year.

I decanted the liquid slurry from the solids let it sit a couple days and skimmed the top 30% off which I mixed with bacon grease and skunk essence. Target animals are marten and fisher. See how it goes in the next week or two!