WD40 as a fish attractant

[Millhouse2020]

I have heard many times that WD40 works well as a fish attractant. I have never used it but am curious to try. Have any board members experiemented with it and if so what were your results?

 

 

Generally, I always use scent of some sort. If anything, to remove any odours I may have got on the bait that fish dont like, ie soap, sun block or worse bug repellent...

 

 

Millhouse

Edited June 5, 2012 by Millhouse2020

[BillM]

I know a few old timers that still use WD40 on their worms.. I have a feeling it's more about getting rid of the human scent on the bait then it is adding anything else.

[Christopheraaron]

Either way your dumping oil into the water.

[NAW]

I don't think theirs much "Oil" in WD40.. Lots of other nasty stuff though I'm sure. WD stands for water displacement.

 

On the WD40 website, they discourage people from using it as an attractant.

 

http://www.wd40.com/about-us/myths-legends-fun-facts/

Edited June 5, 2012 by N.A.W

[davey buoy]

I don't think theirs much "Oil" in WD40.. Lots of other nasty stuff though I'm sure. WD stands for water displacement.

 

But on the WD40 website, they discourage people from using it as an attractant.

 

http://www.wd40.com/...ends-fun-facts/

 

If it loosens rusty bolts and lubricates sticking and squeeking hinges. Probably not a good idea if you want a shore lunch.

[pike slayer]

ive heard of this before and i did some searching around a couple years ago. from what i remember it was really only affective on salmon and to wash your lures in it. to me its just not worth the effort.

[MJL]

I remember reading one book written by Bernie Taylor where WD40 was mentioned (I think it was called "Big Trout: How & Where to Target them")

 

In the book it was mentioned that trout do not have the receptors to detect or interpret what WD40 actually is. As such, it can be used to mask human scent on the lure. With that said, I've never used WD40 on any of my lures nor do I ever intend to considering all the other fish attractants on the market (eg. GULP, YUM, Dr. Juice, etc).

[jedimaster]

If they don't have receptors to detect the scent of WD-40 how do they have receptors to detect the human scent?

 

I have also heard of bilgewater.

 

 

I remember reading one book written by Bernie Taylor where WD40 was mentioned (I think it was called "Big Trout: How & Where to Target them")

 

In the book it was mentioned that trout do not have the receptors to detect or interpret what WD40 actually is. As such, it can be used to mask human scent on the lure. With that said, I've never used WD40 on any of my lures nor do I ever intend to considering all the other fish attractants on the market (eg. GULP, YUM, Dr. Juice, etc).

[cram]

Not something I want in my lakes and rivers.

 

Though i don't like soft plastics either (for the same reason)

[Hud]

I"ve always heard the same thing about reel magic but never tried for some of the same reasons

[Millhouse2020]

If they don't have receptors to detect the scent of WD-40 how do they have receptors to detect the human scent?

 

I have also heard of bilgewater.

 

 

 

 

 

It's funny you mention bilgewater. I remember watching an episode of Charlie White's fishing machine years ago. Not sure how many board members remember that show but he was the first to have under-water camera's regularly on his show. On this episode they decided to do an experiment with scents. They wanted to see what foul odours may do to a lures ability to catch fish. So they took 2 identical lures and dunked one in the bilgewater. Their hypothesis was the lure without the bilgewatr bath would cath more fish because the fish would be repelled by the odour of the diry lure. Well what happened was the salmon struck the dirty lure at a rate of 4 or 5 to 1. They couldn't believe why this would be the case so they reported their results to a fish biologist and he concluded that the oil in the bilgewater was acting as an attracting. Oil comes from decayed organisms and contains ammino acids (protiens). He believed the fish were smelling this and were attracted by it. Regardless I remember seeing this many years ago because I thought it was so facinating at the time.

 

 

There are some scents that are know to repel fish for quite a while, bug repellent with deet being the worst offender. Apparantly in tests, bass were repelled for hours by lures that came in contact with deet.

[jigsnreels]

If it loosens rusty bolts and lubricates sticking and squeeking hinges. Probably not a good idea if you want a shore lunch.

 

No kidding. Might as well use it as throat spray.

[smally21]

i think the bilgewater led to the wd40 use.

 

or the myth anyway is lures dropped in the bottom of the boat did a better job, the assumption being the oily water in the bilge must be the attractant..wd40 had the same properties as the oily bilge water and voila..wd40 fish attractant...

 

perhaps urban legend. if you see the 'rainbow gasoline oil water slick' that comes of gas, oil, wd40, bilgewater, suntan lotion, baby oil, fish attractant you name it when they mix with water you start thinking how similar they may be..

[Pangle]

I have never used WD40 but heard of trout guys spraying their roe bags with it years ago. Apparently WD40 used to be made with "fish oils" (I cannot confirm this).