Shore Fishing Using Scents, R U Superstitious? 2025
bigbill reply :
First R U superstitious?
I prepare to go bass fishing by;
Getting dressed the same way.
Washing my hands with BIG Orange. I remove my natural oils by using a citrus cleaner.
Now using scents from shore. On my first cast I load up my topwater popper with bass scent. I make the farthest cast from shore that I can. Now I get in the zone.
1. Topwater baits..........bass scent
2. Crankbaits..............crawfish scents
3. Plastics (unscented)....worm & crawler scent
4. Senko (salted)..no scents on first cast. If I get a strike and I miss it. I put a shot of scent on the next cast for a 100% hookup on the next cast. I use the eagle weedless hooks on my C-Rig with my senko wacky rigged. When the weedless hook guard comes up open I'm positive I had a strike. If I had a strike and it's closed I bumped something. A shot of bass scent.
5. Creature baits a shot of bass scent.
When do you switch scent flavors?
The garlic bass scent is my relief pitcher. It's my backup. It pays off to have a bass scent that's a knockout punch and the garlic scent is it.
On a slow day caught consider switching to garlic too.
Slow day.
Change lure colors and sizes.
Switch scents.
Change presentations.
Use longer pauses.
Go with firetiger.
I'm no expert. I fish mainly from shore.
Scott F reply :
I am not at all superstitious and I NEVER use scents. I don't care if it could double my catch, I don't want all of my gear and boat smelling like dead creatures.
Joe Schmuckatelli reply :
lol
Getfit74 reply :
Not superstitious but I almost always use scent, may not really matter but it's just more of a confidence thing for me. Scent of choice Garlic Megastrike.
Missourifishin reply :
I'm not very superstitious. And I don't use scents much. I only use it on soft plastics. I'm not even 100% sure what scent it is... crawfish I think.
Jay Ell Gee reply :
I have become a big fan of mega strike. I don't believe I have tried the garlic, just the original. You don't miss many fish when you rub on that paste.
CJV reply :
On 4/29/2014 at 9:21 AM, Scott F said:I am not at all superstitious and I NEVER use scents. I don't care if it could double my catch, I don't want all of my gear and boat smelling like dead creatures.
X2 I'm with you on this one!
Cryoglobin reply :
I use it sometimes, when I remember or if things are especially slow. But, it is definitely not one of those things where I do not feel confident if I don't use scent. I use Bang spray, a couple of different flavors. Its all I will use because it comes out of a spray can. I don't like the drippy messy crap that gets everywhere. The spray bottle is pretty contained.
SirSnookalot reply :
On 4/29/2014 at 9:21 AM, Scott F said:I am not at all superstitious and I NEVER use scents. I don't care if it could double my catch, I don't want all of my gear and boat smelling like dead creatures.
I agree with the above.
More important to me is that I feel I'm cheating myself, it does reduce the challenge a bit. Of all the various fish I target I have the least problem catching bass.
Lund Explorer reply :
I don't have a superstitious bone in my body but. I ALWAYS use scent if I'm fishing.
100% DEET!
nascar2428 reply :
No superstitions here. Megastrike( Original and Crawfish ) on all plastics. The scented ones just get a little dab.
ColdSVT reply :
On 4/29/2014 at 6:21 PM, Lund Explorer said:I don't have a superstitious bone in my body but. I ALWAYS use scent if I'm fishing.
100% DEET!
Deet and sunscreen for me! Lol
roadwarrior reply :
Hard lures or soft plastics, they ALL get treated with MegaStrike.
.ghoti. reply :
Megastrike on all plastics and jigs. I don't use it on moving baits.
Darren. reply :
Not superstitious here. I sometimes use scents, and I've changed over time. I'll go through periods when I use them a lot, and times when I don't at all.
I catch fish regardless. I've got MegaStrike on some of my plastics, I've got a spray bottle of Bang in the kayak, and I've got JJ's Magic bottles. I cannot prove one way or the other whether they've increased my catch rate or not.
The other day I threw to a male guarding a spawning bed. I threw every color and style of worm I had with me. I even scented some of them. Then I grabbed one of the new Zoom Fluke Worms (watermelon magic), did not scent it, and that's what he hit. I never ended up getting him into the boat, but he struck that worm three times, and one time I had him hooked, he jumped and the bent hook came out (was an Owner weighted wacky hook with light wire, bend the hook once and it bends too easily the next time).
So for whatever reason he saw the Fluke worm as a problem. Nothing else. Scent did not seem to play any part in this case. But I'll use scent again when I feel like it. I'm sure it helps at times.
Felix77 reply :
I tend to use scents in the spring and in waters where they are highly pressured. In both those cases it's about anything to get one to bite. When they are in an aggressive mood there is no difference either way.
Raul reply :
I did an experiment many years ago, purchased a bottle of scent and sprayed my some baits generously, others were fished the way they came out of the T-box, noticed no difference in the catch ratio between the ones with scent and the unscented ones, so, no more I use scent.
ww2farmer reply :
On 4/29/2014 at 9:31 PM, roadwarrior said:Hard lures or soft plastics, they ALL get treated with MegaStrike.
Same.............
As for being superstitious.............no. I am confident in my ability to locate and catch fish, I don't need to superstitious.
Alonerankin2 reply :
I simply don't believe a largemouth or bronze back are smart fish.... I enjoy fishing for many
Species... Mostly freshwater big and smallmouth.
This is true... In mid 90's on Ky. Lake in a yellow
Gambler... Sneaking into a great bigger fish hangout.... I saw a bit of water disturbance about
150 yards out..... Easing closer, I saw a very
Unreal sight... A 5 pound largemouth... With a 5 pound smallmouth... Stuck in its mouth... I still can't understand how these events can happen.
Smallie was dead and largemouth d**n near...
Unbelievable? Nope it happened... Point?....
Largemouth are not smart, per say.. Just a primitive creature running on a pea size brain.
No need to be superstitious unless you just want!
Don't over think it... It's not as hard as it seems
Creekcrappie reply :
I like to pull out the scent when a lot of fish are dropping my plastics before I can get a hookset off.
TorqueConverter reply :
If scents mattered than Berkly Gulp would be the hottest plastics in the bass fishing market. The scent formula and the quantity of it a gulp plastic can store and release into the water over time is light years ahead of any crap we can spray onto our bass baits.
This being said I have caught a few big bass on cut bait bluegills catfishing and the only thing that could have drawn those fish to the bait was scent.
SirSnookalot reply :
No question in my mind that fish are attracted to scent, chumming for example. Whether I'd use an outside agent to attract fish is dependent strictly on the species, for bass..............not a chance in the world.
WIGuide reply :
On 4/30/2014 at 10:44 AM, TorqueConverter said:If scents mattered than Berkly Gulp would be the hottest plastics in the bass fishing market. The scent formula and the quantity of it a gulp plastic can store and release into the water over time is light years ahead of any crap we can spray onto our bass baits.
This being said I have caught a few big bass on cut bait bluegills catfishing and the only thing that could have drawn those fish to the bait was scent.
Gulp doesn't get the market attention because it's actually banned at the Elite level.
To answer the questions asked, I'm not superstitious, but I do use Kickin' Bass on everything. I used to have a pet bass for a while as a kid and you could drop a bait in there with no scent on it and the fish would mouth it and blow it back out 2 or 3 times and then lose interest. If you put scent on the same bait that it just lost interest in and dropped it back in, within a few seconds it'd come over again hit it and hold on. You could keep pulling the bait away from the fish and it would keep hitting it over and over again. Pretty much convinced me that scent plays a role.
bigbill reply :
You guys don't wear a certain piece of clothing or favorite hat.
I need a favorite hat, polarized glasses, or I'm out of sync.
Once this happens I might as well stay home I lost my ability to focus.
SirSnookalot reply :
On 4/30/2014 at 11:34 PM, bigbill said:You guys don't wear a certain piece of clothing or favorite hat.
I need a favorite hat, polarized glasses, or I'm out of sync.
Once this happens I might as well stay home I lost my ability to focus.
Of course not.
jeremyryanwebb reply :
I grew playing baseball all the way through college....so its natural for me to be superstitous. I had never used any additional scents before I decided to throw some Megastrike on my SK redeye shad about a month ago. First cast with it I got a double hookup!!! Never had actually seen two fish on one lure before then. So obviously from that cast on....I added megastrike to my list of superstitions.
Bobby Uhrig reply :
Come watch some of our demos at the shows we do. At ICAST a few years ago there were many skeptics about so called "scents and attractants" so I walked over to the Hawg Trough with a bait-just a soft plastic-cut it in half-threw the untreated bait in the tank -as it sunk a bass came over inhaled it and expelled it in about 2 seconds- Added so megastrike to the other one -threw it in -a bass eyed it up and ate it. Then i grabbed a pebble -put some goo on it -threw it in -it hit the bottom and a different bass nosed down on it-found that particular pebble and swollwed it. Needless to say everyone that was watching followed me back to the booth asking 'What was that stuff" Superstitious I dont think so-
RoLo reply :
The next time I use scent on a bass lure will be my first time...it's a confidence thing 
Roger
mjseverson24 reply :
I dont do it all the time, when the fishing is good i typically don't take the time to put it on, but is fishing is pretty tough that day i will use it and it definitely increases the catch rate for the day... confidence comes from enhanced performance, if the scent did not out perform unscented I would not have confidence in it... I would assume that to be true of the rest of the sent using guys on here... Also I pretty much use scent all the time on soft plastics during tournaments...
Mitch
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