Scents??? Guides/Fishing pros any advice???

[sconceptor]

Was just thinking about my use of scents for steelheading. It's about the only time I apply scent. I do like using Berkley products in the summer for bass and 'eyes as I like the scent of their products. However, I don't apply scents to my lures or jigs like I do when I am after steel.

 

I use Mike's trout scent gel, the red one. Used it for 2 years now, and feel it gives me an advantage and confidence. It was recommended to me by a quality steelheader.

 

Solopaddler, do you use stuff? BillM do you use stuff? I imagine both you guys have dropper bottles of your home made roe scents that you add a drop on every 10th drift or so.

 

Steve, do you use scents when guiding? Other guides or pros or experienced fisher persons on here, do you use scents on lures to help out?

 

I've got some worm scent gulp alive spray, but it's never made it into the boat yet.

 

I figure I'll have to give scents more of a shot, this year, after realizing home much I like it for steelheading.

[sconceptor]

Is nobody sharing secrets about what's in their boats/vests/boxes?

 

Ben? Dr. Sal? Others who do well a lot of the time?

 

Is scent application a tournament secret or just something the Izumi, Mercer and others get paid to endorse?

[fish_fishburn]

I believe that scents help. Weather its to cover your scent or the fish actually like the smell of the scent your using is debateable. I have tried many different products and they all seem to work. I know that operating a boat you can get oil or gas on your hands that can't be good when you transfer it to your baits, so maybe the scent covers that. I have seen some really weird home made concoctions in my time. I tend to use the spray types because they are cleaner to use and don't make a mess of your boat. But I can honestly say that I have caught a fish on the very next cast many times after applying it to a tube or whatever bait I am using at the time.

 

Some anglers swear by a certian product. I've seen guys use WD-40 for walleye and one buddy of mine just refills his bottle with used deep fryer oil. Some say garlic flavour is the best. The product BANG at 10 bucks a can is no better than the 3 dollar RATTLESNAKE product sold at wally world in my opinion. I know a guy who even goes as far as grinding crayfish up in a food processor and adding it to vegetable oil and he says its the best scent/attractant for smallies

that hes ever used.

 

All I know is theres always 3 or 4 cans of it kicking around in my boat and I use it if the baits I am using are not scented. Maybe its just a confidence thing but I think it helps.

[trapshooter]

I don't use it much for the type of fishing that I do. Some guys up here swear by spraying tube jigs with WD-40 for lakers through the ice. Have I tired it? Sure have. Have I caught fish? You bet. Do I think it makes a big difference? Not really.

 

Species like catfish, I truly believe that scent helps... big time! That's how they find food, scent dispersal in the water, more so then any other freshwater fish. For that reason, fresh dead bait is key.

 

For walleye, I don't. If I'm not using live bait then I'm using gulp and God knows it has enough scent already!!

 

I guess you could say that I'm not a true believer but I'm not going to discredit it altogether. My advice would be to try it and form your own opinion. Fishing, like a lot of things, boils down to confidence. If added scent gives you the confidence, then that's all that matters.

[troutologist]

2 places this past year where I really saw scents make a big difference were.

 

1. Late fall trolling for muskie and pike. We experimented and ran a 2 naked baits with 1 scented, all the same lures, tuned as close as we could, same amount of line out. The scented bait was nearly 4 times the catch rate of the unscented over 2 days of fishing (a buddy wanted to do this for a sponser)

 

2. Jigging hardbaits for walleye (livetargets and chubbys). Again substantially more hits throughout the season.

 

 

 

I see fresh spawn fish better than heavily cured stuff, sometimes procured skein is the only ticket in the fall....

 

 

Ben hit it, use what works for you. If you can't catch a fish on a swimbait, why continue to use them because Doug Stange catches fish with them.