Scent or no scent 2024

Glenn reply :

Do use any scent with your lures? If not, why? If so, which ones do you use?

Marty reply :

I use Kick'n'Bass garlic with spinnerbaits, but not with other lures. I've had historic problems with negative odors on spinnerbaits, mainly because skirt material holds odor that doesn't wash off, because it permeates the material.

I (and most other fishermen) am not in a position to test and draw valid conclusions as to whether scent use results in more catches, but from what I've read by many guys who have attempted to do some testing, I've seen no evidence that there is a significant difference between its use and non-use.

AUTgrPilot reply :

For me it really depends on one thing--whether or not I've lathered up with sunscreen or not. I use scent to cover up anything that might turn fish off, such as gasoline, sunscreen, etc.

My cousin and I have fished together several times using the exact same bait, weight, line, and presentation, but one of us used scent and the other didn't. We found little to no difference in catch rate.

I will say this. The new scented Gulp baits from Berkley do make a huge difference. Don't know what's in those things but every fish out there thinks its food.

I typically use Spike-It because it really sticks and stays on the bait well. Just don't get the overspray on the boat--it sticks.

Pond-Pro reply :

I use scent on all my soft plastics and somtimes on spinner-baits. I dont use it on crankbaits because it washes right off. I use Yum shad sent, and Yum crawfish sent. I am not sure if it atracts fish, but it does make them hold on to the bait longer. It masks my human sent and I know it doesnt hurt any thing, so I use it.

JT Bagwell reply :

I use MegaStrike attractant on everything.

My "personal opinion" is that once a fish hits the lure and gets a taste of the MegaStrike, they are going to hold on longer. As a result I have more time to get a good solid hookset.

The MegaStrike does a great job of masking the smell of gasoline, nicotine, sunscreen and other stuff people might have on their hands.

FYI: It stays on Crankbaits for a long time too.

JT Bagwell

Trivib1 reply :

I make mke up my owen scents, I use it on softplastic baits that I pour. and her is some thing for pound pro, take you sent and add it to some vaseline jelley, the unscented kined. just add it to your cranks and it dont wash off ,you have to wipe it off.

kajun reply :

I use Bang crawfish scent on most of my jigs. I don't know that I catch more fish using it but I deffinately feel more confident using it. I do have a follow up question: How often should you reapply scent to soft plastics and spinnerbaits.

thanks

njvbass reply :

I use yum craw! I like it on spinnerbaits as well.If you spray it on a white spinnerbait it looks like it's bleeding.

Marty reply :

Quote
How often should you reapply scent to soft plastics and spinnerbaits.

As I mentioned above, I use scent only on spinnerbaits. The scent permeates skirt material and months later it still smells like garlic to me, so I don't re-apply except at the start of the season.

Chris reply :

I have found that scent plays a role in catching more fish. I have found that if you use a lure that is moving like a crankbait or jerkbait scent is not much of a factor in catching more fish unless you find that bass are chasing your bait to the boat and not hitting it then after you add scent to your bait those fish that followed your bait now hit it. Also in cold water scent plays a role in more fish. On other lures like jigs and worms scent acts like a lube and helps the bait get through cover easier. Water is more dense that air and scent takes awhile to disperse. So the idea that a bass will travel great distances to search out your offering just on scent alone is less possible. But scent helps a fish determine if the offering is food or not. Also scent covers up anything that you might have come in contact with that might turn off the fish. Just remember that a water base scent washes off easy so you going to go through a bunch thoughout the day. Also some scents have heavy color in them and will change the color of your lure or how its seen under water. Sometimes if your in an area catching fish and the fish turn off try changing brands or kind of scent because sometimes fish kinda get wise to your scent. Alot of times this will catch you more fish out of an area. Oil base scent makes your offering look like it has a slime coat which inturn makes it look more natural. Also when a fish eats it the oil covers the fish's taste buds so to speak so the fish can't taste anything unnatural. I feel salt plays a greater role if the fish is going to accept or reject a offering once its been taken and scent helps to get them to bite it.

Steve_S reply :

I do not use spray, I never have I should but never knew what type to buy. The Shad or Craw sound good on a jig w/a craw or on spinner baits. I may start using it this weekend before the snow starts and the ponds ice over.

duncast48TN reply :

YesYesYes I use scents. I use RealCraw out of a spray bottle. I also use garlic powder on all my soft baits and crappie jigs. Not sure if RealCraw is still being made. if so where can i get some? Almost out.

JT Bagwell reply :

I was talking to a "Major" boat company and they stated that the leading cause of damage to bass boats is "Spray-On Fish Attractants."

According to them the spray will eat the backing off of the carpet causing the entire thing to come loose.

JT Bagwell

John Cullum reply :

Another vote for MegaStrike. I was a huge fan of Smelly Jelly in the past but the last 2 years I have been hooked on the MegaStrike scent. I never liked the spray scent because most of it was wasted in the water or on your boat. Smelly Jelly comes in a jar which is a little easier to apply than an aerosol can. Mega Strike is in a tube which makes the applacation super easy and you waste very little of the product on your boat or in the water. It seems to stay on longer than the others I've used too. I don't think it has a huge impact on spinnerbaits or crankbaits but I think it makes a big differance on your soft plastics. I believe they will hold it for an extra second or two and that makes a differance between catching and missing sometimes.

Glenn reply :

Actually, Smelly Jelly also comes in a liquid that you apply to your bait similar to MegaStrike. (just in case you didn't know)

Big_Bass_Rich reply :

I make my own dough type scent, it goes on the hook rather than anywhere else, and since it's a dough it will stay there all day. I also make a liquid scent for lures where the dough would hinder action/appearance. Garlic/strawberry has been a killer flavour! I also have some Yum shad scent which I put in my pastics bags to keep them fresh.

Will reply :

I always use scents. Hardbaits and softbaits. Everytime I pull a lure out of the taklebox i dose it with a shot. The scent doesn't seem to help the fish bite, but helps once he grbas it to hold on longer. Currently I use BANG, but the spray will get all over the boat car or gear if you are not careful.

John Cullum reply :

Glenn, I had know idea that Smelly Jelly now comes in a tube. I used it fot several years and always purchased the jar because thats all I thought they had. Did they change the texture of it? It was way to thick to be in tube form before. I haven't paid any attention to it after I got my first few tubes of MegaStrike there was no reason too.

Glenn reply :

It's actually a thick liquid, not a paste. Got hooked on it during a trip on the John Day river (http://bassresource.com/fishing/smallmouth_river_fishing.html).

earthworm77 reply :

I use scent in all of my hand poured baits that I make for bait retention!

SENKOSAM reply :

Guess it depends on the presentation and lure. If you're a power fisherman, scent is not going to make much difference because the angler is after the reaction strike. Someone with slow reflexes may need scent for longer retention even after a reaction strike, but most people I know react easily within the 2-3 seconds it takes to take in line and set the hook.

Using scent on pork or flavored baits, like Yum, seems redundant. Using them on Senkos, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, in-lines, spoons (weedless or Hopkins), topwaters, finesse baits, fast retrieved C-rigs, for school fish, for fish-gone-wild in spring fish and current fish, it seems like a waste of money. Either the baits are super soft and salt impregnated or going too fast to be munched and the fish hook themselves 75% of the way, with not even a power hookset by the angler.

Deadsticking neutral bass may be improved with scent, but for most of my presentations and lure types (mentioned above), scent is not needed or proven to catch more fish in my experience. If it works for you, no there's no arguing the fact of whether it works or not.

Sam

Maineiac reply :

Neat thread to follow. I think over the years I have tried almost every type of scent out there that are available commercially and a few that friends have concocted that probably would have qualified the garage bench where they were created for Super Fund clean up status ( a word of caution here...it is not recomended to make a scent up at home consisting of shrimp, sardines and Vasaline and forget it in the ole storage locker in the boat, in July, with the cover on. Partner did that once and he found himself in the back of the boat for the day with me on the trolling motor fishing briskly upwind. Man was he a treat to ride home with dang near made him ride in the bed of the truck but for the fact it was his truck) So I use commercial scent. I agree with several of you that there is perhaps a preponderance of times where the absence of scent will not be a deciding factor in the bite you get but there are other times where I am convinced that the presence of scent has allowed me to get fish that others were not.

So what do I use? I carry a number of different ones actually because I agree with Chris that there are times when you can change scent and get fish that had become turned off or warned away by a particular scent or get fish that perhaps didn't like the first offering but reacted positively to a different scent. I use Smelly Jelly in the Bass Feast or Crawfish flavor and have found the 2 pink types to be better than some of the other colors. My partner swore by the yellow or orange one until we had a couple outings where it appeared the pink stink just did better. I use it on soft plastics primarily but will also wipe a smear on crankbaits and especially topwaters if I am getting follows or bumps without hookups.

I am also a fan of Jacks Juice in the aerosol cans and have found Crawfish again to seem to have the edge though my wife likes the Garlic Jacks Juice better. The good thing about the Jacks Juice in the aerosol is that one can put it on with out wasting a ton and the stuff seems to sink in and stay effective longer on soft plastics.

In my kit one will also find the Berkley Power Bait goop. About all I use it for is squeezing it inside a tube. I do this for several reasons. One is to pick up a little weight for casting ease in certain windy conditions and to get a different sink rate. But I have found that on those days when they want to play nip and run that the tubes with Power goop in them may make the difference between converting nips to stuck fish (I fish alot of smallies and have found this more of an issue with them than LM) be advised though that in hot weather depending on how you cast that your partner can get a pretty good over spray of essence of Power bait on a number of your casts causing them to expound at length about your parentage or lack thereof.

Using scents has caused me to make at least one change in my fishing though. About all I take to eat now on fishing days is tuna fish sandwiches. The tuna seems to hide the taste of crawfish oil on my hands and sometimes on the sandwich better than some other items that have been on the fishing menu and contray to what some might think a little film of Anise oil on the top of a cup of coffee does not improve the flavor as much as one might hope.

In honesty I had never heard of Smelly Jelly in thick liquid form. Up here in the spring and fall one has to keep the jar inside their coat in order to keep it soft enough to use. after keeping it on the defroster for the trip to the lake (wife isn't too impressed with the after fishing trip load of clothes she finds in the hamper either)

Anyone here remember people using WD-40 as a scent? Seen it done but couldn't bring myself to do it. We have cone a very long ways from those days or folks using the oil from a can of sardines (that I have done). Todays scents are so much ahead of such crude offerings that it is like night and day. So do they work?????? I think so at least they are one more item in my confidance bag and there are days when I will take any edge perceived or real.

Bassin101 reply :

I just started using Kickin Bass. No noticable change so far. Seems to wash off quickly.

Has anyone ever stored a hard bait in a scented plastic bait bag, after or while using the soft plastics? Any results?

earthworm77 reply :

They are making paste scents for crankbaits. Now I know these are reaction type baits but do you think that the taste or scent would make a bass hang on any longer to a hard bait?

crankbait reply :

Yes, realcraw...! My non-boater says it tastes better when I spray my lures...! ;D

Nick_Barr reply :

B.A.NG fish attractent is the best to handle with since it is in an aerosol can and its stays on longer than any of the others and works very well

Stickling reply :

BUT does it have cfc's?

Sam reply :

I use Carolina Lunker Sauce for smell and taste. I take some of the plastics I plan to use and put them in a Ziplock sandwhich bag to soak overnight in the Lunker Sauce. The next morning I put the Ziplock bag in my tackle box and I am ready for action. You can smell them in your tackle box, too!

12555

Scent or no scent 2024

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