Best Bass Attractant?

[MDP4BASS]

If anyone has any suggestions on a good scent spray for largemouth (brand, smell itself, etc.) please let me know.

Thank You

[rockchalk06]

I don't like sprays as they contain oil. Never worked well for me.

I use Megastrike on jigs trailers and plastics. It's a cream type. Order less and colorless. I also use some on my hands to mask my scent when I touch plastics. Not sure if it helps, but it makes me feel better. And it works for scents like I use when deer hunting.

When I want something different or to give it some color, I use JJ's in chartreuse. It's a garlic scented dipping dye. Reeks something good!

[Hogsticker]

I don't know if it's the best, and I think it is hard for any person to prove that any specific one is - but, I like the Chapsticks type attractant. No mess, though I rarely use it.

[Sam]

Well, here we go again.

 

Texasfisherman is experimenting with a Nightcrawler worm paste vs. no scent on plastics and I am going to be doing the same as soon as this weather breaks and we get into the 70s around Richmond, Virginia and I can go out with my boat and hit the small lakes and to experiment.

 

The Nightcrawler formula is the brainchild of Dr. Keith Jones (Ph.D) of the Berkley research department now known as Pure Fishing.

 

There are a number of posts on scents and I am sure if you search this site you will bring up a number of them for your reading pleasure.

 

So what are scents supposed to do? Three things: First, you can do as Rock Chalk wrote and and hide any foreign and human scents on your hands that can be transferred to the plastics. Second, to have the bass hold onto the bait for a few seconds longer. And third, to give you confidence.

 

I will not go into all of the details Dr. Jones writes in his book, Knowing Bass - The Scientific Apporach to Catching More Fish, but I will give you his list as to the best scents his research found. A word of caution: Dr. Jones performed his experiments in a controlled lab. He had to do this to have the variables the same for each experiment. We may have other outcomes in the wild so use what Dr. Jones writes as your guide and not your bible.

 

Dr. Jones performed a scent experiment with crankbaits. We usually forget to add scents to crankbaits so I was a little surprised when I first read the chapter on chemoreception. Dr. Jones' findings show that scent on a crankbait produces an average of 43 strikes with scent and only 23 strikes without scent.  Crankbaits with scent had longer retentions averaging .9 second longer than cranks without scent, .4 seconds.

 

The scents will surprise you. Here they are from best to worse:

Worm Extract

Prey Salt Mix

Salt

Garlic

Sugar

Anise

 

When you select a scent you will note there are many garlic scents out there that we all use. And Senkos are loaded with salt which plays a part in the bass striking and holding on to them.

 

Taking the oil molecules out of the equation since we don't pay attention to that factor there are a number of scents that we purchase for our plastics. Your goal is to expand them to all baits, including spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and jigs & pigs.

 

My list includes the following. You have to experiment with different brands to find out which ones you like best.

1.  MegaStrike - Original Formula

2.  JJs Magic - Love that garlic

3.  Carolina Lunker Sauce - Place bait on a sponge and slop it up with this formula and then put sponge in a air tight plastic quart freezer bag

4.  Bang! - Seems to do a good job but be ready for a stream and not a spray when you push the button

 

To learn more about the bass and scents please consider going to Amazon.com and purcahse Dr. Jones' book.  Although it is packed with a lot of scientific information and b-i-g words I think you and the other guys and gals on this site will enjoy what Dr. Jones writes and his charts.

 

Now it the time to change your battle cry to: NOTHING LEAVES THE BOAT WITHOUT SCENT!

 

Now go out and buy some Nightcrawlers!!!!

[Topwaterspook]

This is the first year I've tried Megastrike. Three tubes were purchased a while ago but I've only tried the "Original". So far, I'm very well satisfied. The only minor problem I've had; is the tube split at the bottom seam.

[Oregon Native]

Been a user of Smelly Jelly, and YUM and have had some great results.

Tight Lines

[derekxec]

i use bang for freshwater and carolina lunker sauce in both hard and soft bait kinds for saltwater

[georgeyew]

This is the first year I've tried Megastrike. Three tubes were purchased a while ago but I've only tried the "Original". So far, I'm very well satisfied. The only minor problem I've had; is the tube split at the bottom seam.

 

Yeah, I had that problem too. I had to transfer the gel to another container.

[TrapperJ]

@Sam

 

I am dying to find out the results of the worm pastes aka worms in a blender results. I need a reason to buy a blender just for liquefying worms! haha

[gallowaypt]

Spike-it chartreuse garlic works well for me. I might have to try the megastrike so I can start putting scent on hard lures.

[Bobby Uhrig]

Believe me you do not want to play with the worms in the blender trick. Witin a few hours it starts to decay -You will be puking your guts out in the boat -HMMM chumming-Maybe thats why its supposed to work so well.

[JayKumar]

MegaStrike, Smelly Jelly. The gel-type attractants stay on the best.

[Crestliner2008]

Megastrike here too.

[Sundance]

Megastrike original.

[Felix77]

Megastrike - Original

[roadwarrior]

MegaStrike

 

 

 

[airborne_angler]

Megastrike here too.I've heard Megastrike is non staining. Tell that to the shorts I wear on the boat which I wipe my fingers on after applying Megastrike to baits.Its not Heavy staining, but there is a mildly darker area where I wipe my fingers. And if you rub that area you can still smell a faint hint of the scent. This and I just pulled these shorts out of the laundry this morning.My wife gives me funny looks when I rub my pant leg and then smell my fingers...Its a Megastrike thing...she wouldn't understand.

This weekend we were in a sporting goods store and I was sampling the scents and attractants. She wanted to have some fun too. She found a jar of Smelly Jelly Bass Feast (pink)...so she thought the color would match the scent...think maybe she had Cotton Candy or Tutti Fruity in mind? Shetook a big ol whiff of that stuff...she turned all sorts of shades of green...me...I love that smell.

[Wayne P.]

Kick'nBass Garlic scent is the best, all the others are tied for last place along with WD-40, gasoline, insect repellant. sunscreen or any other substance you want to try.

[iceintheveins]

Megastrike original, a tube of paste.

[BigAL]

Bang

[bowhunter63]

Megastrike here too.

[MDP4BASS]

I THINK IM GOING TO GET SOME MEGASTRIKE HAHA

[Rivers Edge]

CB's Hawg Sauce

http://www.cbshawgsauce.com/

[keith71]

Bang craw or shad.

[JT Bagwell]

I have been using Megastrike for several years (used to be friends with Bobby but he doesn't talk to me anymore, probably because I am cuter than him, not that that is saying much  lol) and it works great. Just don't squeeze to hard if you leave it laying out in the sun.

 

I will usually toss a tube in my boat's cooler on hot days.

 

The posts about the tube splitting are interesting to me because I have never had that happen in the 8 or 9 years I have been using it. Of course there are always product defects in everything we buy.