What's your favorite bass attractant? 2025

Guitarist86 reply :

I never used the stuff but see alot of different brands out there.

What works best for you, and how often do you spray your lure?

whj812 reply :

I am a fan of the Spike it worm dyes that are scented. Example Ill use a white super fluke and dip the tail in the chartreuse garlic scented dye. The tear it up man! I have used the Shad scented Yum spray but it doesnt seem to do the trick as well.

Shad_Master reply :

I have a bout 4 or 5 cans/bottles of stuff rattling around in my boat that I never use - don't think about it when I'm on the water and too much hassle to dig it out. I do like baits (soft plastics) that have some attractant built in 'em - but can't really say that I have ever felt this made a difference one way or the other, except for GULP!. I remain convinced that this is not only an attracting substance, but it also causes the fish to hold on longer.

grimlin reply :

CB's hawg sauce

roadwarrior reply :

I still have a number of brands that I never use. Sometimes I use MegaStrike, but mostly as a lubricant on soft plastics and Mattlures Baby Bass. In general, I don't think attractants add anything to your presentation, but fish MIGHT hold a split second longer. With swimbaits, the lubricating feature prevents the fish from griping the lure, alowing for a better hook-set.

Siebert Outdoors reply :

Quote
CB's hawg sauce

Thats the one I really like. I also have some Lure craft scents and yum which are good too. I dont think they always make a difference but in some instances they have worked real good for me. Sometimes they help keep the skunk out of the boat.

Bean Counter reply :

I swear by Jack's Juice garlic, I use it on all my soft plastics.

Jeff H reply :

BANG crawfish for me. I do not use it all the time but of the few I've tried on my jigs, it's been the best one.

Brad_Coovert reply :

Mega Strike.

Easy to use and never any mess.

Brad

JigNBig reply :

I just use my plastics how they come in the package.

If it has scent, they work great.

If they dont, they still work great.

Gambler and Powerbait makes so smelly soft plastics.

I have a bottle of YUM but it stains anything it touches including you plastics.

hi_steel_basser reply :

Quote
Mega Strike.
Easy to use and never any mess.

Brad

I beg to differ, my friend. It gets really messy when the temp. outside hits about 95. I had a tube practically explode on me this weekend. I still like mega-strike, but my al time favorite is carolina lunker sauce. I have also been impressed with jack's juice, ecxept the spray goes everywhere. Of course, the bottle of CLS I had broke somehow, so my storage locker reeked of garlic for a week. But I refuse to throw a plastic worm without some kind of goop on it- it's a confidence thing.

Catt reply :

I use Fish Formula II or Baitmate (clear) with a ½ oz of pure anise oil added

Zel... reply :

Research was conducted over 10 years by chemist and an ex-perfume maker Ken Cross. He claims the best attractant is one made out of heavy, natural fish oils. He stresses the use of something that smells like fish and adheres for hours upon hours on all sorts of plastic or metal baits. Ken Cross came out with KICK-N-BASS.

Dr. Keith Jones, director of research at the Berkley Fish Research Center in Spirit Lake, Iowa says chemicals in the water must make physical contact with a bass' receptors for it to smell or taste the compound. So the scent must be dispersed in the water. Since fats and oils rarely get distributed in water as single molecules, instead rising to the surface in globs, the fish never smell them. "To bass, oils and other water-insoluble substances don't exist," says Jones which casts a different light on oil-based scents.

I'm so confused hence I have about 5 different scents in my boat Berkley Powerbait for Bass, Kick-N-Bass, Fish Formula, MegaStrike, and my own formula which is a combination of all four plus a sticky garlic fish attractant added to this mixture. Since one common factor seems to be that we all carry a scent through our skin that repels fish. This scent is an amino acid called L-Serene and L-Serene is a very strong fish repellent, and will definitely induce negative responses from fish. Also, there are other smells that are negative to a bass including gas, oil, and sunscreen. Therefore, since all fish attractants seem to mask these negative scents, I guess anything is better than nothing.

RoLo reply :

Obviously, those who sell fish attractants give them rave reviews.

All the same, my favorite fish attractant is still a Paddletail Worm

Seriously, the last time I used scent was many years ago when deer hunting with bow & arrow.

The deer's world revolves around their keen sense of smell, but the bass's world revolves around their eyesight.

Roger

senile1 reply :

Quote

Quote
Mega Strike.
Easy to use and never any mess.

Brad

I beg to differ, my friend. It gets really messy when the temp. outside hits about 95. I had a tube practically explode on me this weekend. I still like mega-strike, but my al time favorite is carolina lunker sauce. I have also been impressed with jack's juice, ecxept the spray goes everywhere. Of course, the bottle of CLS I had broke somehow, so my storage locker reeked of garlic for a week. But I refuse to throw a plastic worm without some kind of goop on it- it's a confidence thing.

As long as I keep my Mega Strike in the shade there are no problems with it. I use it to mask smells on my hands and to, hopefully, cause the bass to hold unscented plastics a bit longer, but like others, I am skeptical about its value beyond these applications.

Stringjam reply :

Quote

The deer's world revolves around their keen sense of smell, but the bass's world revolves around their eyesight.

I'm not going to say scents don't work for a certain purpose (like making a fish hold on however much longer), but I believe they are absolutely useless as an "attractant." It has been proven that largemouth cannot follow "scent trails."

My most productive plastics in life are nothing but poured plastic - that's it.....and I've pulled fish all the way to the boat without setting the hook with them. Look at how successful rubber skirted jigs have been as well - - put one of those rubber skirts in your mouth.....agh!!!!!

Until these scent makers PROVE scientifically that a scented lure catches more fish than an unscented one, I'm not going to waste my time.

WhiteMike1018 reply :

Megastrike

-WM

Sam reply :

#1 - Mega Strike

#2 - Carolina Lunker Sauce Pro-Gel in Crawfish

#3 - Jacks Juice in Crawfish or Garlic

#4 - Spike-It

and maybe a new #1, JJ's, after I try it next week!

FishTank reply :

MegaStrike is the only one I had success with.

.ghoti. reply :

Just about any of them will work to cover up scents and/or tastes you've added while handling the bait. None of them will function as an attractant. For bass, attractants are motion, sound, vibration, flash, etc; not scent or taste. I do believe that once the fish gets very close, a strong positive scent can sometimes "seal the deal", and a positive taste will help keep the bait in the fish's mouth quite a bit longer.

Cheers,

CyBasser reply :

Quote
I'm so confused hence I have about 5 different scents in my boat Berkley Powerbait for Bass, Kick-N-Bass, Fish Formula, MegaStrike, and my own formula which is a combination of all four plus a sticky garlic fish attractant added to this mixture. Since one common factor seems to be that we all carry a scent through our skin that repels fish. This scent is an amino acid called L-Serene and L-Serene is a very strong fish repellent, and will definitely induce negative responses from fish. Also, there are other smells that are negative to a bass including gas, oil, and sunscreen. Therefore, since all fish attractants seem to mask these negative scents, I guess anything is better than nothing.

Exactly. A few years ago I was crazy about using scents and experimented with most brands around. Then I thought that it is all a huge advertising scheme on the side of manufacturers just to sell more stuff to tha anglers. Just as I was about to quit using attractants I did have a revelation, it could readily be used as a commercial had I had a video camera with me.

I was fishing with a couple of buddies on a tiny mountain stream for rainbow trout. Crystal clear water in a big, deep pool. We could see them easily from behind the bushes which were hiding us from them. The place was too small and with too many obstructions for spinning, but was enough space so that we could take turns to cast a worm under a small bobber. We could see the trout going to the (very lively) worms, moving closely around them, then dashing back into the bottom grass. It went like that for two hours. we even put 0.11mm line, nothing. Then we remembered "attractants". We used them on the alive worm. The very same trout that were circling and rejecting the worm took it without hesitation! Just to make sure, we again casted a few worms with no attractant. Again, circling but no bites! Back to attractant, trout readily get it!

A few months later I first read about the effects of the L-Serine on bass (and other fish) behavior. Ever since, I do place some attractant on lures which allow the bass plenty of time before attacking (such as plastic worms, jigs, feathers at the tails of poppers). With fast moving lures like cranks or spinnerbaits I believe the visual stimuli more than overrides the negative effect of L-Serine that might be on the lure. But with slow lures, yes, I do believe that the cover up of L-serine with crawfish, garlic, shad, or any other scents does make a difference. If nothing else, at least the fact that they no longer smell the L-Serine must be allowing them to hold the lure a touch longer allowing for a better hooking ratio.

Favorite brands? Megastrike, Carolina lunker sauce, Yum, Kickn'bass...

Del from philly reply :

Why they call them attractents??? is a question i can;t answer

they should call them odor masks, or scent nuetralizers......

iv tried 2 so far, and even though their a pain in the ***, i feel like they could help in certain situations......

1) garlic bass by eagle claw- not a brand i really trust but i tried it anyway....THIS STUFF SMELLS THE WORST!!!! i cant stress this enoough!!! terriible, made my whole LIFE SMELL FOR WEEKS....

thing is, it seemed to work pretty descent, had a bass i almost pulled into the shore without even coming close to the hook.....

problem ios its hard as hell to put on bait, and smells so bad you need to wear surgean gloves....

2) YUM crawfish- not sure about this one....smells a lot better....in fact, it just makes you feel like you just had some shrimp or something......but im not sure if it works too well./...

i lvoe the easy spray on, but i havnt made up my mind on thjis one yet, at least my car doesnt smell for days after use

Jeff H reply :

I have a feeling bass have no taste buds either . I don't know about the rest of you but if I put something in my mouth that is full of salt it gets spit out IMMEDIATELY . No sane creature be it man or fish should be able to stand as much salt taste as some of these baits look to have . Apparently a fish is very different then I am concerning salt. I just cringe at the thought of what it does to their stomach should they actually swallow one of these over salted baits. It would make me sick.

I have never directly tested/compared salted baits to non salted but I have compared my favorite worms to Powerworms and I have watched them hold onto the plain plastic just as long as they did the Powerworm. This is by no means conclusive testing as the fish were just active dinks in clear shallow water but it was interesting none the less. I have also had days where they deeply ingested the Powerworms and maybe that is some form of testimony in itself but it was a PITA because it was killing fish that I would like to release unhurt. So, when my current stock of Powerbaits run out I will no longer be buying those either.

bubbler reply :

I use megastrike.

it sucks if its cold because it freezes and becomes hard to apply.

its possible to spread it on every 100 casts. it realy stays on well.

Brad_Coovert reply :

I keep my MegaStrike tube in my pocket while fishing. Stays warm enough in winter to spread easily. Stays cool enough in summer not to be too runny. Never a problem with it in all the years I have used it.

Brad

Rattlinrogue reply :

1.Baitmate live fish attractant(Anise)

2.Yum Garlic

3.Bang Garic

TennesseeVols14 reply :

1) BANG crawfish formula

2) BANG garlic

but i have also found out that WD-40 works just as good but i dont use it due to i dont wont any enviromental problems.

why does the fish hit WD-40 the same as the other scents??? are they lookin 4 the GLOSSY coat or does the smell of WD-40 attract them???? never under stood this so does any1 know???

9190

What's your favorite bass attractant? 2025

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