Stinkiest Soft Plastic You Use?

[SpinLight]

Lure companies learned several years ago that they can use scent to market their soft plastic, perhaps following the lead of David Bethshears, the Bruceton, TN pharmacist who invented Fish Formula, one of the first widely sold spray-on fish attracters, back in the 1970's. From Baby Oil and anise oil to garlic, crawfish and squid scent and Berkley's foul-smelling concoctions, several of today's soft plastic baits smell awful!? I think they believe that by making them smell worse, they can sell more of them. ( Everybody has their own opinion on this, but I am not a scent-added fan. I don't believe it makes a difference to bass, but catfish may be different.)

 

I have recently bought and used some 13 Fishing worms that have a "donkey sauce" slimy coating. "Donkey sauce" smells like they collected it from the chicken house floor.  Perhaps that's why it is so "fowl" smelling. Let's have a scent-sitive discussion. What soft plastic lures smell the worst to you?

 

 

[TnRiver46]

Gulp stinks the worst to me. My wife banned me from using gulp spray after we were fishing together in a small boat on a windy day 

[heavyduty]

Power Team Lures hog tonic will gag a maggot!

[rgasr63]

Chompers skirted grubs have a very strong scent. I have been fishing farm ponds and the scent works with the horses also. They will follow me around or nose up around the truck when I am fishing with it.

[WRB]

Original Smelly Jelly made your eyes water.

Tom

[TOXIC]

1 hour ago, rgasr63 said:

Chompers skirted grubs have a very strong scent. I have been fishing farm ponds and the scent works with the horses also. They will follow me around or nose up around the truck when I am fishing with it.

Totally agree, my brother in law had some chompers grubs with garlic scent and while he was fishing from his kayak, I could smell them 100 yards away as I approached him in my boat.  Smelled like an Italian restaurant.  ?

[Fishin Dad]

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.

[FryDog62]

Geecrack Bellows have a strong scent, but I kind of like it - like Fritos

[detroit1]

15 minutes ago, FryDog62 said:

Geecrack Bellows have a strong scent, but I kind of like it - like Fritos

I have never tried these but i like the look. Never saw them in person, only on TW. Their picturedoesn't include a veiw from the front. Are they completely round, or oval shape, or ?

[throttleplate]

I dont get what ya all are saying about the bad smells.

I use garlic, different bass gells and gulp minnows and i still grab a sandwich even with my stinky fingerless fishing gloves on.

 

 

My wifes farts are what chases me away.

 

When i am fishing i am not dainty, i even pick a booger or 2, no time to clean my fingers.

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

46 minutes ago, throttleplate said:

I dont get what ya all are saying about the bad smells.

I use garlic, different bass gells and gulp minnows and i still grab a sandwich even with my stinky fingerless fishing gloves on.

 

 

My wifes farts are what chases me away.

 

When i am fishing i am not dainty, i even pick a booger or 2, no time to clean my fingers.

 

 

 

Haha! It might have something to do with those eggs with the chickens still in them 

[Fat Ika]

2 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Geecrack Bellows have a strong scent, but I kind of like it - like Fritos

Agreed. Strong, but it's fun to take a sniff. We've got the great outdoors, the thrill every time we feel a bite, and we can take sniff of the Geecrack. Covid depression killer. 

 

2 hours ago, detroit1 said:

I have never tried these but i like the look. Never saw them in person, only on TW. Their picturedoesn't include a veiw from the front. Are they completely round, or oval shape, or ?

They're oval and flat. Side t-rigging is the most common. Durability is exceptional for the supple action you get. Multiple times, I've been able to catch mutliple fish on a single bait, throw it back in the pack, pull it back out for round 2 / take a nice sniff of the Geecrack, and catch more fish another day. 

[Jaderose]

Anything with JJ's on it.  Which for me is everything.

[Bankbeater]

None of the smells really bother me any more.  When my allergy starts up and my sinuses get irritated, I can't smell a thing.

[Luke Barnes]

MaxScent and gulp dont bother me in the least. Bang crawfish/shad formula doesn't bother me either and Gambler uses it on some lures but the one that gets me is the Gambler garlic. Good lord it is strong and pungent!!! That and the acetone smell of spike it and JJs gets me. 

[detroit1]

Thanks  fat ika

[DINK WHISPERER]

I don't use many scented baits but the Berkley powerbait has to be the "loudest" and longest lasting that I do use. 

[EWREX]

lake fork tackle have some heavy garlic stank to them 

[Bluebasser86]

Anything from keitech that says "real squid scent", on it, don't smell it, just take their word for it, trust me. 

[EWREX]

11 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Anything from keitech that says "real squid scent", on it, don't smell it, just take their word for it, trust me. 

i won a raffle at our ct bass nation banquet which was a ziploc full of keitech baits. ask my wife what she thinks about that ?

[MonsterBassafterDark]

On 1/1/2022 at 10:41 AM, SpinLight said:

Lure companies learned several years ago that they can use scent to market their soft plastic, perhaps following the lead of David Bethshears, the Bruceton, TN pharmacist who invented Fish Formula, one of the first widely sold spray-on fish attracters, back in the 1970's. From Baby Oil and anise oil to garlic, crawfish and squid scent and Berkley's foul-smelling concoctions, several of today's soft plastic baits smell awful!? I think they believe that by making them smell worse, they can sell more of them. ( Everybody has their own opinion on this, but I am not a scent-added fan. I don't believe it makes a difference to bass, but catfish may be different.)

 

I have recently bought and used some 13 Fishing worms that have a "donkey sauce" slimy coating. "Donkey sauce" smells like they collected it from the chicken house floor.  Perhaps that's why it is so "fowl" smelling. Let's have a scent-sitive discussion. What soft plastic lures smell the worst to you?

 

 

‘promo’ has to be the worst smelling thing I’ve ever smelled in my life. You all are all probably familiar with this catfish bait that you can only handle using rubber gloves. I believe I burned a pair of jeans after accidentally brushing a counter that it had been setting on. A buddy attempted to ‘home-make’ this product- only to find out that his worst creations did not compare

[JackstrawIII]

On the flip side...

 

My favorite smelling baits are from the Strike King caffeine series. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I really do love cracking those bags open haha. Fish seem to like it too. 

[OmegaDPW]

I have a bag of garlic scented finesse worms I got at Bass pro. They're probably the Chompers listed above. I have to keep them in 2 or 3 ziplock bags because they're awful. Hadn't caught a bass with them but have caught large redear on a #4 EWG hook. 

 

 Even after a full day of fishing, the scent doesn't come off and if I don't take it off and throw it away, you'll smell it in the car and the house afterwards for days. I give them credit- they put a lot of thought into how to make the scent durable. 

[MAN]

Both Berkley Powerbait and Gulp can have a very "off putting" smell as they age. A gynecologist could probably relate. 

 

(sorry thats the most family friendly way I could think of saying it)

  

 

[Tackleholic]

I would rather deal with offensive odors on baits than salt.