Issues With Long Term Storage Of Soft Plastics ?!?

[ChrisD46]

I'm curious if anyone has experienced the below issue with long term storage of soft plastics ?

 

Over the last couple of years I bought a variety of soft plastics on sale from Netbait , Roboworm and a few others .

I stored them in their original bags in my basement ( fairly even temps / perhaps more humidity than upstairs in the house but I do run a humidifier ) .

 

Moving on , I went downstairs to pull out a few bags from the basement inventory and noticed quite a new smell coming from the bags :  The best way to describe it is the soft plastic smelled as if it had "turned" or something - almost smelled "musty" but otherwise looked alright and were still soft and pliable ( not dried out or anything) .

 

To conclude , the soft plastics were like new - except for a strong smell as if the soft plastics had "turned" ? I'm concerned that bass may not be attracted to these soft plastics now unless there is a way to rid them of the new smell  ? ... I'm thinking to rinse the soft plastics in water , then take them out of their packages and then lay them outside on a picnic table to get abundent fresh air .

Anyone experience the above with long term soft plastics storage ?? ... Any advice how to restore these soft plastics ?? ...If I can't find a suitable method to rid these soft plastics of the smell then I will resort to only buying what I need for immediate usage and forget stocking up when the sales hit  !

 

Thanks in advance for replies ...

[Raul]

You are overthinking, I am a professional multiple champion of purchasing and hoarding tackle, I have several hundreds of soft plastic bait bags that are DECADES OLD and bass still bite them with gusto. One button is enough for a sample: 

 

 

See that worm in the hook ? Culprit 7.5 Black Shad Ribbontail worm, the day I hooked that fish those worms were more than 10 years old.

[ChrisD46]

_{Yes Raul , but had your Culprit worms developed a decidedly different smell at 10 years old vs.  than when they were new ?}

[Josh Smith]

Might be good catfish bait if you don't want to trust them for bass.

Don't see a problem, myself.

Josh

[Raul]

_{Yes Raul , but had your Culprit worms developed a decidedly different smell at 10 years old vs.  than when they were new ?}

 

Yes, pretty much, when purchased they had a slight anise scent, 10 years later the oil was pretty much gone, the anise scent was replaced for a lot more "plasticky" scent and I´m not fond to add scents and stuff like that, that worm came out of one of those bags and as it came from it was rigged and fished until those !"·%&)/ bluegills left it tail less.

[Senko lover]

In my experience, the only issue you'll have is with the bag, which'll get deteriorated and greasy. That's about it.

[bigbill]

The plastics get greasy in the bag I just put them in a zip lock bag in there original bag. They still feel ok.