Fishin Dad

I am convinced scent works, to what degree I am not sure. A couple examples. My tourney partner went fishing on St. Clair with another buddy who guides there. They used a scent for smallmouth. He said it was undeniable. We fished Mille Lacs together a few weeks later and he had bought some. He didn’t start out using it, but put it on and immediately caught fish. I was convinced. Another crazy story I saw first hand. We have a small lake by my house. Our local community puts on a kid fishing contest every year. Brings in about 75 kids. I also brought my daughters and their friends and helped them out, grilled, had fun. One friend had her brother fishing and went over to him and he sprayed “walleye spray” (I ended up checking it out later) on a bare hook with about a 6 inch tag of line and 12 pound test. She threw that in and caught the largest sunfish of the tourney and won money. I just can’t discount some of the stuff I have seen. I am not very consistent using scent, but I will use it much of the time. I have seen it work at times.

They don't work, just forget about trying them. Don't steer anyone else to them either. They might get angry. Lol

Wow Toxic, If that is what retirement looks like, I can't wait!!!

I agree on trying that Hakai. I might try the standard and the pitch/flip. I hope they are as good as I think they will be. I love my really old Okuma Helios. I bought it when it first came out and it has been used hard as a frogging reel and never missed a beat. It is still as good as it was the first day I tried it. Not much maintenance on it either.

Dang it FryDog. I love my Shore Lunch, but I may have to try this Watkins you speak of!!!

Bluebasser, I have heard good things about your bladed jigs and know you catch fish on them. I am going to try a bladed jig with a split ring for sure this year. I think it will have different look and vibration that what is usually thrown (Zman). Thanks for the confidence boost!!

I like it. I agree with your theory on the Maxscent on slow moving low action plastics. I am trying these out a lot this year as well. Good luck!!

That is a stellar pick up. Nice find. My Walmart sucks

RDB, That is very close to what I use now. Wow. I love the Netbait. I may try some of the other suggestions above as well. I am somewhat glad I did not see more Netbait stuff. With all the pressure these days, I am going to be using stuff others are not.

That’s a couple 6th Sense Hogwilla. I might have to check out there plastics. Their hardbaits are solid.

I feel your pain. The boat won't see water until mid April I assume. I am really liking the thought of the floating claws on the Xzone. I may be thinking that is more of a big deal than it will be, but I like the fact they are supposed to float up.

Nice review! I am also looking for another chatterbait rod. This is on the list. Is the rod a little to powerful for 1/2 oz. chatterbaits? It is only rated for 3/8-3/4 which is not really very heavy. A 1/2 oz. chatterbait with trailer is almost maxing that rating out. Thanks for any info.

I like the Xzone and 6th sense picks BigTimeBassin. I ordered some Xzone, but won't get to try them until ice out. I like the looks of the 6th Sense as well. Something they probably haven't seen around here too!! Thanks

I am just curious as to what you like for high action trailers (Strike King Rage) and do nothing trailers (chunk). I would love to see everyone's 3 favorite of both. I am trying to organize my plastics in this manner over the winter. It will be interesting to see what people think are high action and low action. Thanks, Fishin Dad

Wow, Zoom for the win by a landslide. I think I better throw something else this year and show them something different.

Darn it, my fault. I meant to say lurepartsonline. Mid-week idiot move. Thanks for all the info!!!

Thanks Fellas!!!! This is exactly what I wanted to hear. I have about 7 different kinds of hair in my cart at Lurenet and this is one of them. I know most of them aren't long enough, but it doesn't say how long in the descriptions. I will for sure give this a try. Is jsflyfishing.com the best or is Lurenet ok as well? Thanks again. You guys know your stuff!!!

This really depends on the bite, changing conditions, different areas of the lake, etc. I rarely if ever use one bait. I am always trying something, even if just a couple casts to see. I would say I usually throw a Chatterbait, spinnerbait, Jig, T-rig, stick worm, and shakyhead almost every trip. I most often add in crankbaits, lipless, drop shot, frog, buzzbait next. A lot of the fun for me is trying different baits to see if I like them, if they are productive, and just to challenge myself to catch a bass on something different. Catching bass where I live is not very difficult 90% of the time, especially since I can go during the week. I have some goals to catch bass on lures I don't really use. I like those days.

The Maxscent has a much more dull or muted (matte) finish. I think it looks really natural compared to a lot of the shiny plastics you often see. I didn't end up using up much of the supply this summer, so this Spring I am going to hit it hard with the Maxscent and hope it works like I have seen.

That’s really cool. It looks to me like you know a heck of a lot about tackle. I will have to keep up with this and grab some of your stuff.

I really hate those days. I usually move pretty quickly when the pike are going nuts. I think we should head down to Florida, these guys get to catch some wild stuff!! I could get out of this cold!!!

The pike around here for the last couple years have been CRAZY. It is not uncommon to catch more pike than bass on a certain lake. I lost A LOT of baits to those slimeballs. Last season I also caught, crappie, sunfish, walleye, sauger, bullhead, catfish, drum, rock bass, and mudfish. No musky. I don't mind the non-toothy critters. They don't wreck my stuff and tear my hands up.

There are a lot of smelly baits. Gambler baits stink like a barrel of garlic sauce. I have always been on the fence about scent as well. I do use it sometimes, just to cover my bases. With all the success Berkley has had with Maxscent, especially on Smallmouth, it's becoming harder to discount the scent factor in my mind. I have seen it first hand how a certain scent added to baits work on smallmouth. It was undeniable. I have not seen it as much with largemouth. I do not believe largemouth are as picky, but I do think it covers up foreign scents from us and they probably hold on a couple seconds longer. Who knows though. Age old discussion.

It has been an interesting search so far. I think I am going to end up buying a bunch of different materials and trying them out. Maybe I will find something unique that works just as well. On the videos I have watched, Feider and the others talked about a very slow fall because of the bulk from the material. The description says it is synthetic, just not sure what. Thanks for helping me look!!

congrats again! This forum is amazing I am going to continue my search for unique synthetic fiber that is long enough. I want to have something similar that is unique to show them something different with all this new found fishing pressure. I have to wait 4 months however...............uggh