Scents or Non-Sense?

As I was making my Spring Yamamoto order last month I noticed that Yamamoto now sells Mega-Strike scent with the Yamamoto name on it. I have never really been a big fan of using scents or attractants but have yet to see Yamamoto put their name on anything that doesn’t work. So I bit and bought some (at least the attractant made me bite ).

Anyway, last week in a tournament the morning bite was so tough I went 3 straight hours without a bass bite. After the third hour I remembered I had a tube of that scent stuff so I quickly worked a dab into my plastic for the heck of it. Not 10 minutes later a pop a monster! Coincidence? I’m still not sold on the stuff but it certainly raised my eyebrows.

If scents are proven to help keep fish on the line, attract, cover-up, or whatever it is they say they help with, why are most of the top tournament angler NOT using them? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

What do you think? YOU CAN CHOOSE ONLY 2 BOXES…

I use scents during the cold open water seasons, both spring and late fall and feel they do help. I also almost always add some scent when fishing cut bait, or crawlers for channel cat.

I use them if I have a bait in the water. I believe they increase catch rates enough to be ordered to my shower upon return home from a day of using Kick n bass. If it is only one fish a day that holds a little longer or decides to bite that can make the difference between 25th and a paycheck. You are stubborn though a 6 1/2 pound fish says I want stinky stuff and you dare question her.
How bout The Brovarney Banana Man Juice? Coming soon in Miller, Coors, and Rolling Rock Scent.

I believe there are times when they do help, this would include some tough bites, but I also feel they do not make a difference at all. I used to use the scents all the time, but now I tend to concentrate more on keeping my hands ultra clean. This is what works for me.

Bassman

I’m a believer in Kick-n-bass. I believe it makes the fish hold teh bait longer, even if just a bit, gives you a bit more of time to get the hook set. Does it attract fish? Don’t know, but I don’t think it repels fish, so what will it hurt?

i use a scent remover hand soap, made a believer out of me on a walleye trip to Canada, and use Kick-n-bass garlic

I have never used it yet, (well maybe if a friend had some I did.) Skeptical you could say. Anyways, on another site there was a good read on this same subject. A guy made a point that made sense to me. Have you ever had fish follow and not commit, maybe only take a swipe and miss your bait? Maybe that was a nuetral mode fish and maybe having some scent trail off into his/her glands/mouth would have been enough to make that fish commit.
That kind of sold me. I can’t think of how many times I am swimming a bait and it gets knocked foward from behind. Could have been the trailer color was wrong….or maybe a little scent would have made it fully commit the kill???

Now on T-rigs and jigs/slow baits, I don’t know if it would make a difference or not. I don’t think so. IMO

Heres the other question. How long and well does that scent stay on a bait?? 5, 10, 50 casts? It seems to me that you put it on, throw the bait in the water, see the huge oil slick, and that seems to tell me about 90% just came off.

Everything i know about scents have come from 2 men and one was al linder in his book BASS. He says that in order for a fish to smell something that the smell must be water soluable because that is how a fish smells is through the water. however their smell and taste are 2 different things. The Oil slick that ERonningen eluded to is a oil based product that the fish can taste and not smell. However there is other kind out there that work as a smell. I beleive this is the way gulp works. Gulp breaks down in water and the fish can actually smell it. Also in one of Linders videos he points out that the older the bass gets the more Olfactory senses it grows meaning the older a bass gets the better its sense of smell gets. He also warns against what is known as Surfacants(sp?) This is an unattractive smell to a fish. For example most soaps we use with the exception of ivory soap contain surfacants even when our hands sweat the oil that comes off our hands is offensive to fish. So things like gas, oil, greecy potato chips are things that a fish can taste. That is why some of you have eluded to washing your hands and having that helping. However the reason a fish may have only bumped your bait instead of inhaling it could be that it didn’t taste good or maybe it tasted bad.
Any way this is my understanding of smell and taste. However i had a buddy that spilled gas in his boat and his favorite lure was siting in it for a week and when he found it he tied it on and on the first cast he caught a fish. So it really matters if the fish care or not. I don’t think the bass have read linders book or they would probably be tougher to catch.
ike

The megastrike is more of a gel type material and it holds very well compared to liquid sprays. I even apply it to hard body crankbaits. I don’t know if it matters, but if it helps me mentally, I guess that means it helps.

I think no doubt the bass hold a jig or plastic longer in kick-n-bass than without. Especially a jig, which are not salt impregnated like a plastic.

I think of scents similar to the way I do color. Sometimes it does not matter and sometimes I think it matters a lot. I do like scents and use them 75% of the time. I have had similar exp. where I had no bites then put on some scent and get bit. Also I wondered about taste and smell. Maybe the fish do not smell them but taste them long enough for me to feel the bite.
How long does the scent last? maybe 15 – 30 minutes?

If you take regular laudry detergent and mix it about twenty to one in hot water it will get the kick-in bass off the boat when it dies on.

I have been using megastrike for the last 3 years and believe it works. It stays on the lures for a long time and i believe helps them hold on to it longer. Not sure if it draws them in but i doubt it. As posted above, i dont believe it hurts and might help.

Most scents do catch alot of fisherman thats for sure. As far as catching more bass??? Some do….others don’t help one bit. But…if you are using a worthless scent….and believe it helps you catch more fish….you probably will because you will have more confidence.

Contrary to what was stated earlier…I am not sure if bass can smell and taste different scents(one way but not the other)

Salt is one product that bass have shown little affinity towards. Garlic is another scent that bass show no preference for…..and why should they??? They are predators….not vegitarians. Same with other spices and junk that people claim the bass love. If garlic is so great….why not just fish with a ball of garlic on a hook?

Many scents bass cannot smell because they are not water soluable.(oils,gas,)

That being said….I am a firm believer in products like powerbait and some others. Bass just really seem to hold on to them and even swallow them.

This is all good info and sounds logical, but this still does not answer why it is that many top pros do NOT use scents. I, and others on here, have fished with very successful fisherman during tournaments and have seen them win without using them.

I just don’t understand if the general consensus is that scents do help, why wouldn’t EVERYONE in a tournament be using them???

Like I said before, I’m playing around with using them but am not sold yet. I guess I’ll continue to use them while trying to prove they don’t help (if that makes any sense)…

Megastrike is good stuff and for $7-$8 a tube is a steal. Lasts much longer than sprays. Stays on a long time. If you put it on the rubber strands of your jigs you will notice they stick together, to rectify just pull the rubber tight and then let go and let them “snap” back. Will stay seperated then. Spike-It is also good stuff, really strong, has made a big difference for me more than once. It is more applicable for soft plastics than jigs, seems to penetrate the plastic and stay with the bait well.

Dave,

What kind of lures are you talking about? Most soft plastics come with scent in them.

One problem with using scents on hardbaits is that it washes of quickly if it is water soluable. If it is made of oils….and stays on good….the bass can’t even taste it anyways. I am sure that they make some of them with multiple compounds in the oils so there should be something in there that the bass like.

Another myth is they leave a scent trail for the bass to follow. Doesn’t really work that way. When you cast out and the lure hits the water…thats when most of the scent falls off…as you move the lurte though the water the scent trail gets smaller. So actually if a bass was to follow a scent trail….it would follow the trail back to where the lure was cast.

I’ve heard that the best reason to use a scent on a lure is to help it “slide” through the weeds more naturally. This is especially true for soft plastics and jigs. Next comes confidence, if you feel that the scent helped, then chances are it will help again, for you.