Rendering Smelt

Bait O' Eggs · 01-20-2002, 04:35 PM

There must be a way to get the oil out of a smelt and make a couple bottles of scent. Anybody know how to do it? :whazzup:

I have heard of cold pressing - Is this just basically a cider press that squeezes the raw fish until the oil comes out??

I have heard of rendering - Is this cooking it? and if so, how do you do it?? maybe I could boil them and then scoop the oil off the top of the water? thoughts?? maybe bake them and then squeeze them somehow. I would think a warm fish would expell oil easier.

Will one way keep better than the other? I assume it will need refridgerated either way.

These fish are extremely oily, there must be an easy way to get it in liquid form out of the fish. Any suggestions?

Snapshot · 01-20-2002, 05:55 PM

Roy, It was a fun day for all of us. You're a REEL king of guy.
So you found fish even you can catch. Can I go along so I can change my image?
Years ago, probably before you were born, my father in law would go smelt dipping. I never got into it. Do you use them for bait or why do you want to extract the oil. Can you freeze them for Coho season? I really don't know but if they will improve my catching I will try about anything once.

Pitch Pocket · 01-20-2002, 06:02 PM

According to Lewis & Clark's journal, the indians used to dry them, stick a cedar wick in them and burn them like candles because of their oil content. Seems that if they have that much oil, the oils would rise to the top when boiled. It's worth a try. There's more where they came from.