I had some pike, rock bass, and sunfish heads in the freezer from a couple years ago and wanted to get rid of them so figured I'd see if I could make any sun rendered fish oil out of them. Tossed them in a bucket with a lid and after three weeks it was pure liquid with just the bones settled to the bottom. I strained the bones last night and put the remaining liquid in containers and back into the sun to see if any of the contents separate.

Question for you guys:

1) How bad does the final product of sun rendered fish oil smell? This stuff smells pretty rotten at the moment

2) Any tricks to preserving this stuff?

3) Is this even fish oil? It seems like a mess of just liquefied fish.

I've done everything but beg the bowfisherman in the area to save a few carp for me or at least just toss them in a pile and I'd come get them but nobody wants to mess with those stinky things.

I don't see much oil separated from those photos. It should be on the top or just under the top skim or foam. Those fish don't make a lot of oil. Most likely you will have fish juice/water/sludge. It will stink. Good oil will have a nice fishy sweet odor.

Once your batch has worked out don't disturb it by agitation,straining or stirring. The oil "must " be siphoned off or pulled off the top if there is any. Once you agitate it in any way you will mix what oil there was with the water and sludge together. You wont get it back to the way it was.

Thanks! I did some reading in the archives after posting this and realized I did exactly what you're not supposed to do. haha I'll dump this crap on the garden and start a new batch. Thanks!

A lot of people seem to like Locklear's method of making fish oil. I've tried it, it works pretty well....

I like these cheap tea jugs. open the valve and the juice drains off first

x2 danny I use them for bto the watery stuff goes to the bottom and its easy to separate with one of those. My first draw goes in those jugs. My second draw is pure oil