Lure Scents

I don't know that scent will make fish bite that otherwise wouldn't and that would be very tricky to prove with all the other variables involved. I'm skeptical of any claims to the contrary until I see how the claims are backed up.

Scent is still valuable for other reasons though. Flipping into cover, a bait with slippery scent on it will go through the cover better.

Many natural foods are slimy or slick to the touch, so that kind of scent may make a lure FEEL more natural which leads to a good reason to use scent - to get the fish to hold on longer so you have more time to set the hook.

Bass don't have hands so they have to taste anything they want to examine closely as a potential meal. They can do this incredibly fast, although they don't always. Sometimes they will mouth something. I think scent can make them take the lure all the way into their mouth at time, and I'm sure that it can make it more likely that a bass will hold and even attempt to swallow a lure.

Still lots of variable involved, but I can do a simple test on this that proves it sometimes makes a difference. Bedding bass will often take in a lure that lands in their nest. Sometimes they carry it out and spit it. Sometimes they spit it right away. Sometimes they attempt to eat it.

What I look for are bass that instantly spit the lure out. I have seen them inhale a spit a lure so fast that your not even sure they did it. I know I can't set the hook that fast if I wanted to.

To test scent, Iwill take the same lure (a tube is good) on the same weight and line, and add scent to the body. I then pitch it back to the same bass and see what happens.

The last time I did this, I found a line of smallmouths on beds that were spitting a soft lure extremely fast. I returned to the first bed and pitched in the same lure with scent added. The bass, which had previously spit the lure 3 times, inhaled the lure again, but this time sat on the bed and did not spit the lure out. I waited 15 seconds and then pulled the lure out of its mouth. I did this same thing a bunch of other bass.

Most kept spitting the unscented lure, but held and tried to swallow the same lure scented. None even left the bed with the scented lure. I had to pull the lure away each time from the bass.

Bass aren't real smart and often attempt to eat lures that don't really look like food. Often, we have enough time to hook them if we are paying attention. On those days and on individual bass that you're having a harder time reacting to and hooking, scent could provide enough margin for you to be successful. I think it will help more than it will hurt, and it can seem to make a huge difference.

Maybe most importantly, the more you believe scent helps, the more likely it is that you'll have more success, since I do believe confident anglers catch more than unconfident anglers. I think what you believe about it has a lot to do with what scent or scents you choose, but you can put time into testing different scents if you want to go that far.

Just remember that every fish, every hour, every day, and every change in your presentation has to be considered when you're testing scents or any other single factor. Still, like any other fishing tool, the more you do to determine the best tool for the particular situation, the more likely you are to load you livewell more often.

Jean-Paul, I used a number of bass on beds in a row. At some, I threw the scented one first and they ate and held it. Then, I threw in the same lure unscented and the same fish hit and spit it. I varied which one I threw in each time on different bass.

You can tease some difficult bass into biting. Some bass will be extremely hard to get to bite. My example was on bass I found very willing to bite, but unwilling to hold the lure. These bass would inhale almost anything I threw immediately. They really like a Berkley Powerbait sandworm too and held it awhile.

I wouldn't use WD-40 anyway anymore than I'd squirt gasoline into the lake. Motors do enough of that and runoff puts enough other chemicals inour water for me to be purposely putting things like that in the water.

There are 'studies' mostly from scent and lure companies that hint scents make bass bite better, but the only ones that seem legitimately believable are the ones that show bass holding one lure consistently longer than another. Since that can be controlled and isolated much more than trying to prove a single factor caused a bass to bite more than any of the other factors.

I still say a big part of it is what an angler believes and is confident in. I'll use it under many situations because I rarely think it hurts and sometimes if seems to really help.

depending on what type of lure presentation you are using should determine whether or not you should use scent ( in my opinion) i use scent called mega strike. its kinda a paste. i have found it to work extremely well on sloweer moving baits. if i am throwing a crankbait and really cranking it, i wont use scent, or a spinnerbait, i dont feel that a bait moving that fast needs scent because i feel the fish are hitting that lure out of reaction.

for pitching, i always use scent. i also use it on my jerkbaits. it just gives me more confidence which in turn makes me fish better or harder or however you want to put it.

i use chewing tobacco. which is another big reason i use scent. i have my fingers inside a can of chew several times a day and then i use those fingers to tie my line and grab my lures. the scent will mask the odors from my skin and the tobacco, and whatever else i touch .

i have used several different scents in the past. some i liked, some i didnt care for. i am not a big fan of oils. i know they hold up better that water soluables, but i dont like the mess and hassle of using them. i have been using mega strike for a few months now and im telling you, this stuff is great. its thick, its heavy, and it has staying power. i have lures that i havent thrown since ice out that still have a good coat of the paste on them. i will say that it was more than worth the $8 a tube (actually, i got 3 tubes for $20 )

i would recommend experimenting with some and determine whether or not you think they make a difference. but i will say that i will always use them, if i thought it didnt make a difference i wouldnt spend the money

madman himself

Like Dan, I did the old taste test for the fish. I also added many different scents. I swear by the stuff and my favorite is some scent called Pro-Cure, they are located out West somewhere, I think OR or WA.

I have even taken a larger needle and injected it into Kalin grubs. I played with fish one time when they would only hit the tail. I injected the grub to the point that it would burst if something touched it. When the fish hit the tail and I set the hook, the scent flooded the area with wonderful aroma of squashed up crawfish guts. The fish then hit the grub so hard, there was no need to set the hook. I used this trick years ago when I won the State Fish-Off. My partner thought I was a drugie, I told him I would explain everything the next day at the weigh-in, because this tournament was a draw and two day event of which meant two different partners, I had to wait. He was prepared to protest me.... that was until I showed him what I was doing.LOL

Anything that gets a fish to hold on longer should be used. Instead of proving that the stuff works, why not prove that it doesn't work.

Doug

There is a very good book by Keith A. Jones PhD., that is in the bookstores right now, called Knowing Bass. Without getting into huge details this is a very scientific book written in a language that we dumb anglers can understand. It gets into all the senses of the bass and how they process scent, taste, noise etc. Jones is a researcher for Pure Fishing and has been allowed to write this book utilizing all his research at Pure Fishing without it being an infomercial.
I've found it very interesting reading and according to him most scents DO work, although maybe not doing the job we think they are. Oil based scents work to mask the odors we get on our hands but as far as attracting they do nothing since the scent needs to dissolve in water for the fish to process it. All the oil does is stop those nasty human smells from getting to the fishes olfactory senses. The right scent does attract but you have to know what you are buying.
This book is definetly worth a read if you want to know how the bass's systems work and process. I would think that most libraries would have a copy or get one if you asked and did not want to buy one. In Canada it cost me $46, jacket says 26.95 US, well worth the money if you ask me.
Brad