Lye Soap for Fishing

[Sally Scheibner]

While they use soap for bait in the US, it's not a common thing here in Australia. Usually here we use pilchards, yabbies, prawns, lures are a lot in favour as you always have them ready to go.

Always fascinated with Australia’s ancient & present history. Read great books on Daisy Bates, Douglas Lockwood, marlo Morgan and Robyn Davidson. Watch Kangaroo sanctuary on Facebook. What type local fats/oils do you use? What’s favorite scents do folks like there?

 

[Relle]

OO, CO, RBO, lots of others. Not so much lard, as it's too expensive.

As far as scents go - anything goes.

 

[Wyndham Dennison]

I'm wondering about why catfish like soap. Could it be the oil,or the sent or the way dissolving soap chemically effects the whiskers with a certain acid base reaction with the surrounding water. Anyway, I also thought about melt and pour as it might last longer and hook on easier. following with great interest

 

[dibbles]

Even more than why catfish like soap, I'm wondering who figured that out. And how? And why? It doesn't seem like a logical thing to try as bait.

 

[BattleGnome]

I wonder if it was one of those accidental things. Do laundry in the river, suddenly fish are nibbling the sheets.

 

[mattd]

I need a little help. I made a 4lb batch of lard soap 25 percent superfat last night and it took about 3 hours for the batch to trace. Any idea why it took so long to trace? Any way of speeding the process up? I mixed the lye water and lard at 125 deg f. The water was well water. I plan on making a 4lb batch today at 1 percent superfat and thinking about adding a 1/4 OZ of anise oil. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Sally Scheibner]

I will be making some soap for the first time this weekend using lye and lard. I have used a soap calculator to determine volumes. The soap will be used for catfishing, and I would like the finished product to remain soft. How can I achieve the soft texture? Maybe a 25% superfat? Packaging the bars in plastic bags quickly to reduce the water loss? Adding more water to the recipe? Thanks in advance for you help.

Do you use a stick blender to mix lye/H2O/ oils? It speeds up trace rapidly for me. I d cook my soap til saponified because of my sensitive eyes. I use good goggles too. It’s hard pouring swirls & fancy colors if I’m not careful with high temps.

 

[Nona'sFarm]

I need a little help. I made a 4lb batch of lard soap 25 percent superfat last night and it took about 3 hours for the batch to trace. Any idea why it took so long to trace? Any way of speeding the process up? I mixed the lye water and lard at 125 deg f. The water was well water. I plan on making a 4lb batch today at 1 percent superfat and thinking about adding a 1/4 OZ of anise oil. Thanks in advance for any help.

In order to help troubleshoot we would need the full recipe.

 

[earlene]

Even more than why catfish like soap, I'm wondering who figured that out. And how? And why? It doesn't seem like a logical thing to try as bait.

I wonder if it was one of those accidental things. Do laundry in the river, suddenly fish are nibbling the sheets.

Just for fun...

As a former fisherwoman, I learned a tiny bit about catfish. Surprisingly there are about 3,000 species of catfish worldwide, although only about 51 in North America and about 49 can be found in the US according to some resources. But not all are known for going after soap as bait. Apparently the kind I fished for preferred live bait, whereas the channel cat goes for smelly stuff and apparently also likes soap. Some catfish eat fruit when it falls from trees along the banks of the rivers in which they swim.

There are many different species of catfish around the world, as mentioned here in the 'eating habits of catfish' in case you wanted to know. So perhaps it's a regional thing like it is with humans, we eat what we have available locally or adapt as we learn to eat something newly introduced to us.

As to how it was discovered that some of them would bite at soap, I would venture a guess that someone who had already noticed that the channel cat is attracted to strong odors and also happened to have some old rancid soap around and just gave it a try for want of something better to do or just for the fun of it. Or if they were angling for carp, maybe a channel cat came up first. Both like smelly bait. And that's a whole other story, a fish's sense of smell.


But more specifically for the OP, this may be of more interest to you since you are in Texas:
https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_t3200_0236.pdf

 

[Sally Scheibner]

I made up a batch from a tallow & lard recipe. Added some bacon grease, cracklings, cornmeal, & garden blood meal. Stinky but stayed on hook even after I caught my catfish. Sad I also caught many old sailcats from canal that links to river to ocean inlets. Will try again nearer the big lake O in Fl.

 

[Catscankim]

I made up a batch from a tallow & lard recipe. Added some bacon grease, cracklings, cornmeal, & garden blood meal. Stinky but stayed on hook even after I caught my catfish. Sad I also caught many old sailcats from canal that links to river to ocean inlets. Will try again nearer the big lake O in Fl.

Hello in Indiantown. Im in st lucie county. Used to work in Okeechobee.

I was reading your post thinking...they sound like Lake O lol