Scent for Ice Fishing

Does anyone use a scent they like for ice fishing (on plastics, rippin raps, etc)? I know guys that swear by using scent and others that haven’t found a difference, but I’m always interested to hear opinions.

Nope. I could see it possibly being good on plastics but I wouldn’t think it would stay on a hard plastic lure like a rippin rap long at all.

It’s all fun and games until the tube of scent pops open in your tackle bag…

Someone mentioned to me once that scent works better in cold water (pretty sure they didn’t have any science behind it, but I remember it). I tried some Dr. Juice last winter and didn’t really notice a difference, but it’s difficult to test unless you have scented and unscented baits next to one another (i.e. trolling spreads).

I’m not a huge fan of dr juice or other scents… Something about putting oil based liquids into the waters I fish just doesn’t sit right with me.

It seems like the only guys promoting scent are the ones sponsored by the producers. I don’t remember seeing the IDO guys ever using scent, but I haven’t seen all of the shows.

I have fished with guys who swore by all the greasy sprays and tubes of this and that. I can confidently say that 99 out of 100 days I was ahead or even at worst. I just don’t believe that scent is that big a factor with fish where there is no current or tide.

Berkley has done some huge studies on the use of scents/flavors for bass with Dr. Keith Jones. They’re very interesting. They basically summarized that scents/flavors didn’t attract bass but caused them to hold on to a bait longer, allowing the angler more time to set the hook, resulting in better hook-up ratios. you’ll see advertisements such as “Makes fish hold on 44x as long!” as a result. It demonstrated that fish drop lures more quickly when they have human scent or other chemicals. Sunscreen and gasoline were scents/flavors that caused bass to drop baits most quickly. I don’t know if a similar study has been done for panfish or walleye; I doubt it.

Most panfish plastics are already scented. I wouldn’t imaging adding scent to ice fishing lures would be very effective because of the types of lures being used: hard plastic and metal. The feathers on the hook of a spoon would be the exception. The types of bass lures people add scent to have silicone skirts and umpteen plastic appendages, giving them more surface area for the scent to stick.

I like anise scent in plain worm oil on ice plastic as a cover scent but I don’t cook it into the plastic. Berkley’s Gulp juice is about the best attractant I have used in both open and under the ice. I buy the pump bottle and doctor whatever I am using either to keep the scent “hot” on plastics or whatever else I apply it to. I’ll soak un-scented plastics in the juice and when a factory jar of Gulp baits is exhausted I put some un-scent baits of some sort in the jar of juice.

Another natural scent is Cod Liver Oil, available in 4 ounce jars at drug stores for $5.00. This goes a super long way and is as natural as natural can get. Its an emmulsifiable oil meaning it can mix with water thereby being “smellable” by the fish. It can be messy though and I take down-sized bottles of it with a bunch of q-tips wrapped on the bottle with a rubber band. I just dip the q-tip in the oil and apply it so its not dripping all over.

Cod liver oil; very interesting!

shady5 wrote:

Cod liver oil; very interesting!

Stop and think about this. Fish live in a water environment and oils generally cannot be detected since a fish’s sense of smell is governed largely by sensors found on or in surfaces where water flows and most oils used in scents are “created” oils with much of their base being petroleum based. Emmulsifiable oils are those that mix with water easily and are generally plant based but some, like cod liver oil, comes from animal parts that is not hard fat like the visible fat seen on fillets or inside of fish and is pressed out. The oil that results will not be picked up by the receptors fish use to smell but the chemicals or compounds that make the oil can be and will be noticed by fish. Since the chemicals sensed are organic the fish sensing these compounds can determine if its plant or animal. Anything animal has the potential be considered food. That’s when the visual aspect kicks in.

I don’t think scent makes a difference until you encounter neutral/negative fish.

One trip last winter I was on Red. The bite was terrible one day, but there were fish coming by once in a while on the graph and camera. The fish we saw, and the couple we caught were very negative.

Meanwhile, my buddy and I ate a jar of canned lake trout, and in the process I inadvertently dropped a small chunk down the hole.

Not ten minutes later, a lethargic walleye came by and eye balled my deadsticked minnow. Seconds later he dove down into the mud and snatched up that piece of trout like he was starving. I couldn’t believe it lol

This winter I’m going to do a little experiment during a tough bite involving canned Laker on a bare hook

I mostly fish lake trout and usually use a camera. What I have noticed is that scented tube jigs and plastic (pre-scented is what I use) are much more likely to be held by the fish longer and they usually will even give it another try if they spit it out. From my observations, I don’t think that it “attracts” the fish (at least lake trout) but holds it certainly their interest longer.

Here is a video that I made that demonstrates what I am talking about. I had 2 lines, one with a live minnow and the other with a scented tube jig.

Underwater view of Lake Trout

B-man wrote:

I don’t think scent makes a difference until you encounter neutral/negative fish.

One trip last winter I was on Red. The bite was terrible one day, but there were fish coming by once in a while on the graph and camera. The fish we saw, and the couple we caught were very negative.

Meanwhile, my buddy and I ate a jar of canned lake trout, and in the process I inadvertently dropped a small chunk down the hole.

Not ten minutes later, a lethargic walleye came by and eye balled my deadsticked minnow. Seconds later he dove down into the mud and snatched up that piece of trout like he was starving. I couldn’t believe it lol

This winter I’m going to do a little experiment during a tough bite involving canned Laker on a bare hook

That is cool!

I knew a guy that was cat fishing with stink bait during the day, then he switched to walleyes once it turned dark. He was out fishing everyone by a large margin and the only difference we could identify is he had that stink on his hands while handling his bait/lure. I think scent can make a difference but not all are created equal.

I will agree with Tom on Gulp! I almost don’t use live bait when crappie fishing open water anymore because that stuff works so well. Used to use it during ice season but waxworms and minnow heads seem to outfish it in the winter.

But God help you if you spill it!

Here’s my 2 cents. When fishing summer or ice, getting sunscreen and or gas on your hands is hard to avoid. I bring unscented baby wipes with me every time I fish. I keep a small pack of them in all my tackle bags. If they dry out, you can add a little water to refresh them. I do at times bring some gel type fish scent in a tube. I don’t use in on my baits. I just use it on my hands to mask things like; my lunch sandwich or chips, gasoline, sunscreen, or anything like that. I’ve had great luck fishing summer and winter, using the wipes and occasionally scent on my hands if necessary. Hope this helps.

I usually put a drop or two down the hole, it seems to attract the crappies and later at night it seems the wallies show up…

I’ve had used judges jaw jackers plastics. They are scented and salted. You can tell the difference compared to like fishing 13 plastics with their donkey sauce. They got a website judgesjawjackers.com and go to ice fishing in menu tab.. guys from Michigan. Worth a look

Kevin Cegielski wrote:

Here’s my 2 cents. When fishing summer or ice, getting sunscreen and or gas on your hands is hard to avoid. I bring unscented baby wipes with me every time I fish. I keep a small pack of them in all my tackle bags. If they dry out, you can add a little water to refresh them. I do at times bring some gel type fish scent in a tube. I don’t use in on my baits. I just use it on my hands to mask things like; my lunch sandwich or chips, gasoline, sunscreen, or anything like that. I’ve had great luck fishing summer and winter, using the wipes and occasionally scent on my hands if necessary. Hope this helps.

I think this is spot on for most anglers. Some many products today can allow the transfer of smell to fish and if the fish are being tenative or fussy this can matter. On panfish and crappie baits, I think that color/size/action is far more forgiving than foreign smells. Salt…..I’m still out thinking about that. Salt on the surface won’t last long and salt cooked into a plastic isn’t going to do a thing unless the plastic’s surface gets breeched.

I think that Berkley with their Gulp and Powerbait products have crossed lines with a fish’s sense of smell as well as some of the products sold under the Rapala label. I also know that several small-bait makers have come across with scents that are superb at what they’re advertised to do. The options are almost limitless, but its up to everyone to try their own way thru the myriad of products sold for ice fishing today but one thing too many over-look is keeping the hands free of smells that may be offending the fish from the get go.

On occasion I have used ProCure… shiner or walleye have worked for me in the past. ProCure is a gel and I find it helps on those light bite days

Slightly different spin on attractant, a friend gave me some BaitCloud to dispense “in the area” I’m fishing. They look like a sleeve of golf balls, are walleye-specific, and biodegradable. Apparently they fizz when dropped in the water. I’m looking to try them in January at LOTW. Anyone else ever try these?

If you’re in really clear water, try sprinkling just a wee bit of very, very fine glitter down the hole before dropping your minnow or jig down.

Nice Fella wrote:

Slightly different spin on attractant, a friend gave me some BaitCloud to dispense “in the area” I’m fishing. They look like a sleeve of golf balls, are walleye-specific, and biodegradable. Apparently they fizz when dropped in the water. I’m looking to try them in January at LOTW. Anyone else ever try these?

They are not legal for use in MN.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/regulations/fishing/baitcloud.html

Thanks Merican Eagle for the heads-up. They’re also likely illegal in Wisconsin as well I’d guess. I’ll trash them.

If they look like meatballs give them to Glenn. He’ll eat anything.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

If you’re in really clear water, try sprinkling just a wee bit of very, very fine glitter down the hole before dropping your minnow or jig down.

Back in the day Grandpa would sprinkle fish scales or oatmeal in the water. Sadly all of the above are off limits nowadays. I caught my PB walleye on a jig and minnow I dipped in sardine oil!

Depending upon the presentation, I’ve always thought that Berkley Walleye Scent can make a difference at times and it’s water soluble.
Does it help? Probably not always, but I’ve never found it to hurt.
Another that I like is GULP Alive spray.

I was watching an episode of Angler West, where they’re fishing Lingcod off Oregon.

They were promoting a scented wax that comes in a container that looks like a stick of deodorant. This looks like a good idea and might actually stick to a hard bait. They were rubbing it all over their 5-oz jigging spoons. There’s a walleye product also.

http://pro-cure.com/store/bait-scent-products/scents/bait-waxx.html