SCENT do they actually work?

[kinghunter]

Do you use SCENT? Does it help to catch more fish? What SCENT has been more productive than others? Is there a particular brand that is more effective than others? Do you make your own, and what is it? Share some of your experiences with us here. Has anyone heard of soaking in pickle juice? Garlic juice?

[medic1]

Well I will start it off. I don't use any scents for warm water fish(bass, walleye, pan fish) generally. I will use scent sometimes for walleye, but not usually. For steelhead I like anise, sand shrimp or krill, in that order and really became a fan of Mike's glow anise last January above McNary dam bobber fishing. For salmon I don't know anyone that doesn't. I use slamola or monster bite on my sardine wraps and mix it with the tuna for super baits. It all depends on the day. A typical day will start with a different flavor on each rod to see what the fish are into that day. As for home made scents, good luck on gettin that info. Even my brother doesn't know exactly what is in my egg or shrimp recipes

[jens]

If you don't think fish don't have a sense of smell, try using Bear scent and let us know what you discover.

[Anglinarcher]

Fish have a great sense of smell, but each species is different.

Salmon and Steelhead, and trout for the matter, are kind of middle of the road when it comes to scent detection, but the addition of a scent can make all the difference in the world to hook-ups. Remember that in WA, fishing with scent is considered fishing with bait.

Bass are on the lower side of scent detection, and yet, scent/flavor seems to make a world of difference when things are tough. I have seen days when the bass were in a negative mood where the addition of scent was the only way to catch fish. On the other hand, I have also seen days where the wrong scent was bad news.

Walleye are high on the scent meter, but I work more to remove my scent instead of using an added scent. On some days, added scent helps, but washing your hands with a scent removing soap, as well as washing your lures, is far more important IMHO.

Now Catfish are the king of scent. Still, I find, like Walleye, even more so, natural scent is king, scent control is more important then adding artificial scent.

It appears to me that the less a fish can detect scent, the more likely they are to fall for our artificial scents. The better they "smell", the harder it is to fool them.

[curado]

i use scents all the time in the rivers and salt. natural scents work but boosting it by adding more can lead to more hook ups and limits of fish

[The Jigmiester]

As for scents for Salmon and steelhead, I think its huge! Last year at Drano lake fishing for steelies, we were on the water for a good 4 hours and had only one bite. I had a hunch and added mike's glow gel to my purple shrimp and my fiancee had 5 hookups in 20 minutes, landing 2 fish before I could even get my line back in the water! That day we hooked 19 steelhead, landing 13 and now I won't use a dyed shrimp without it! I prefer pink or glow GEL scent simply because its thicker and stays on longer. If you are trolling with tuna wraps or herring, gel scents milk slower and stay on longer. Shrimp, sand shrimp, anise, sardine and herring all work well for Salmonides. As for panfish, I swear by Berkley gulp baits like gulp 2.5 " minnows. Crappie will hold onto the bait seconds longer giving you time to set the hook. Walleye repond to grubs scented with Smelly jelly walleye feast scent and smallmouth love Smelly jelly crawfish salt/glitter added to spider jigs and grubs. Trout seem to love power bait enhanced baits. And I have found that fruity smelling shrimp dye IE: coolaid and jello mixes enhance my prawn and egg coloring recipes. And there is something special about pulling a deep purple shrimp out of the bait box that smells fruity...and adding some shrimp gel to it. It just catches fish and adds confidence to my presentation. The Jigmiester

[curado]

i agree. 100% with jigmeister

[kinghunter]

Well it seems that scent really did not help much with me on several outings. I've tried using variety of scents and it doesn't seem to matter much. I was reading about lockjaw, especially for salmon and really doesn't matter what you present to them, they aren't biting much. Reading some article of the stomach contents of these salmons and basically not much digested food in their system. They found alot of FB materials that must of drifted in their mouth and some food but they were not digested. I think they will eat eggs and sandshrimp and other baits if they are presented in front of them but otherwise not happening. I have yet to see many people having much success with them on those lockjaw fishys. I think it was mainly to attract us. Considering what they cost, they are making a killing.

[jens]

I disagree KH. In my outings, I have had great success with drifting eggs under bobber and seen guys slay Silvers using sandshrimp and spin&glows. And these Silvers are way up in the system after just passing hundreds of cannonballs and corkys. And you know what these guys were using heavily?? Scent.

[scott080379]

I will tell you this about scents...about 5 years ago I was stupid and didn't read the regs on a river. Well no bait was to be used and as you know that includes scent. I hooked into so many fish that day and other people had 0 luck. then after about 3 hours of fishing someone saw my put some scent on some yarn and informed me that we couldn't use scnet on that section of river. Scent does work, it may not work all the time but it does work.

[racfish]

In the salt I use mainly scents. For one thing it keeps the doggies away.When I use herring I catch doggies,Ratfish,and Hake. For some reason those PIA fish dont bite it. Salmon seem to love scent. Ive used some for steelheading too. Especially in siltier or muddier water.
Hehehehe we did the bear scent trick to a friend of ours once. It was funny but also we learned a good lesson not to do that again.

[Matt]

I always use scent when I am fishing for salmon and most of the time when I am fishing for steelies. I have never had any instance where I could say for sure if the scent helped in the catching or not, lol. I think that adding natural scents to lures such as fish oil etc certainly shouldn't HURT your chances of catching.

[curado]

to judge what scent is best for the job look up what the fish were eating in the salt

[flinginpooh]

Its been said already. But make sure you read the regs carefully always. Some rivers do not allow bait in sections or different times. Baits include attractants. But yeah it seems to help in alot of cases. I mostly use anise or shrimp. My dad use to chew black jack gum while fishing. I just thought he liked it. Well he spits on all knots to lubricate and cause less friction when cinching the knots. Never thought of it when I was young but I have a good hunch now why. Anise smells similar to black licorice and so does black jack gum. He was masking the smell of his saliva and adding an attractant at the same time. Growing up he always caught more fish then me. Now I catch way more but thats because he doesnt fish as much as me lol.

[knotabassturd]

Interesting! Ya I remember first time I used anice i thought 'Hmm, smells like black licorice.' I'd rather chew licorice or gum than wear latex gloves anyway... Any consistent luck with salmon out there? I gotta get something in the smoker soon even a jack boot king! Never have smoked a boot king come to think of it (have you? Curious how they turn out), but a couple fairly red silvers last year were good. Hope the Mrs lets me out on the water soon... If I bring home a fish or two, the chances go up dramatically of getting back out again LOL. I miss the days of fishing to just get out. Ahhhhh well. Tight lines all.

[flinginpooh]

heres a few

[fish_4_all]

Scent has played a huge role for me in the past 3-4 years. Sometimes very positive, sometimes REALY negative. I was out 2 years ago using eggs and shrimp for Coho in the Hump with no success with others using eggs and hooking fish after fish. I didn't know what was wrong until I switched to another jar I put up without using a match to seal them, fish on first cast and had a great day after that. Now I won't use matches to seal my jars.

I also got to the point I now add scent to my jigs and corky and yarn. I have found that I hook a lot more fish in the mouth and deeper in the mouth than ever before. A used to miss a lot of fish before or hook them barely in the mouth or outside the mouth. It seems to me that Coho and Chinook will mouth a bait, lure and corky and yarn longer with some sort of scent on it than without.

I have tested this visualy in shallow water and noticed that a lot more fish will come within striking distance of a corky and yarn with egg or shrimp scent on it. I have even had Coho hit a fly and corky and yarn in lass than a foot of water when using scent. Never has this happened when I didn't use scent.

I don't fish without scent now if I remember it. My go to is boiled row that I then cure and mash up to make a paste. Makes a thick paste that can be mashed into just about anything fiberous. Want the recipe, take me fishing.

As for salmon getting lock jaw, I don't buy it. They feed all their lives and just because their digestive track locks down they can't fight instinct. Otherwise why would a salmon come from out of the depths to chase a jig into shallow water to hit it and turn for deeper water. No force feeding there.

[knotabassturd]

No boots there pooh!:cheers: Think I remember some people on the boards mentioning smoked chinook boots turned out OK. As for scent, I know in the salt I have done better with many kinds of scent even rubbing a little power bait when in a bindw/o better stuff liek shrimp oil but haven't worked much with scents in fresh water. Probably because rivers I fish when able to get out usually don't allow bait (Green and Puy being the main 2). Tight lines all.