I love catfish. There’s stories about people fishing for catfish with soft homemade soap, heck, even with Zote or Ivory soap. Apparently it’s the scent of it. I decided since fishing season traditionally starts for us on Mother’s Day, I would make soap for fishing today to give it time to cure by then.
I researched what kind of soap is typically used for fishing, and worked out a recipe that should be low sudsing, softer than usual bar soap, and easy to make. It used lard, canola oil, olive oil, and a little coconut oil. It is unscented but I chose to add garlic to two bars and anise to two bars to test which is more effective. I left two bars plain as a control. This tiny batch only makes six bars.
I leave my soap in the silicone molds for 4-7 days. I used to try to pop them out after one or two, like loaf molds, but I learned that was asking for trouble and it’s better to wait.
It’s hard to believe it will be time to catch fish in just a month. There probably won’t be good catfish til June, which is fine; the soap will just absorb the scent of the additives more and more by then. Happy times! Poots says she wants to catch fish with worms and not soap and I promised her she could!
Incidentals 