Saltwater scents for bass

[Cgolf]

This morning I used shrimp scent and had a river smallie hit a plastic harder than I have ever had a fish hit a plastic. Also had another hit that was just as hard, but somehow didn’t hook up. Reminds me of the jerkbait bites where they must be trying to kill it and almost knock the rod out of your hands. Next spot for me to try it is for largies on lakes. 
 

This does make some sense since the Kietech baits have a squid scent to them and everyone seems to like them. If you like fishing with scent and have some extra cash when in a store pick up a saltwater scent in your favorite brand and see what happens. Early returns for me are good. 

[WRB]

Do you mean shrimp scent?

Of all the Black Bass family of bass their olfactory order detection is least developed. Lateral line, sight, hearing are all more developed scenes, odor being at the bottom.

Tom

[Cgolf]

21 minutes ago, WRB said:

Do you mean shrimp scent?

Of all the Black Bass family of bass their olfactory order detection is least developed. Lateral line, sight, hearing are all more developed scenes, odor being at the bottom.

Tom

I do agree that scent isn’t at the top of the list, but reading the Keith Jones book it does matter some, and in clear water I have seen it really matter during a tough bite All I know is I have been fishing this river stretch for 18 years, I can’t believe it’s been that long, and these are the two hardest hits I have ever had on a plastic. I fish a crawbug a lot in the past and they never nailed them like this. Could have been a fluke, but I will put some more time out there next week. Hoping I see similar results. It could have been a total coincidence today too, but time will tell. That maxscent worm everyone wanted was intriguing, because it had to do something with the scent and smallies, because that worm was similar to many on the market already.

 

Only thing I wonder is if it is a mean mouth bass. That would explain the hyper aggression. I have seen more largies lately maybe they are mixing due to limited spawning areas. 

 

I admit I am biased on scents though going back to crappie nibbles almost 2t years ago, but I use the back seaters in my boat as test subjects from time to time to show scent can make a difference. It helps remind me that I am not wasting my money;)

 

hopefully I didn’t ramble too much. I hate writing a thought vs chatting about it. 

[WRB]

Scents matter when they matter like color and we don’t have a clue what bass see, smell or think.

Use what works!

The best we can hope is the bass doesn’t have a negative response.

Tom

[RDB]

On 6/18/2022 at 12:04 AM, WRB said:

we don’t have a clue what bass see, smell or think.

Amen times 10…smartest response I have read on any post this month.

[Cgolf]

3 minutes ago, RDB said:

Amen times 10…smartest response I have read on any post this month.

 

Well of course that is true, I also haven't figured out those things with my wife of almost 25 years yet. The good news with bass is we can detect patterns with baits, locations, etc, my wife zero patterns;)

[RDB]

Just now, Cgolf said:

 

Well of course that is true, I also haven't figured out those things with my wife of almost 25 years yet. The good news with bass is we can detect patterns with baits, locations, etc, my wife zero patterns;)

I agree with your thoughts completely outside of the “of course” part.  I guess my point (though unclear) is that IMO, many on this site have potentially limiting biases.  God I hope this doesn’t start a pizzing contest but here goes.  There are many who believe colors don’t matter, no bass are line shy, scents don’t work, bass are dumb creatures that can’t be conditioned/learn, etc., etc.  They may be right…I don’t know.  What I do know with 100% certainty is that I don’t know what bass see, smell, or think.  I also don’t think anyone else can definitively answer those questions either.  A lot of time on this site is spent flinging mud on topics that nobody can answer.  I choose to stay open minded with fishing.  The wife on the other hand is completely unpatternable. 

[Cgolf]

3 minutes ago, RDB said:

I agree with your thoughts completely outside of the “of course” part.  I guess my point (though unclear) is that IMO, many on this site have potentially limiting biases.  God I hope this doesn’t start a pizzing contest but here goes.  There are many who believe colors don’t matter, no bass are line shy, scents don’t work, bass are dumb creatures that can’t be conditioned/learn, etc., etc.  They may be right…I don’t know.  What I do know with 100% certainty is that I don’t know what bass see, smell, or think.  I also don’t think anyone else can definitively answer those questions either.  A lot of time on this site is spent flinging mud on topics that nobody can answer.  I choose to stay open minded with fishing.  The wife on the other hand is completely unpatternable. 

 

You won't from me. I base all my comments on what I encounter in the field chasing bass. When in the boat it is nice having a second person in the boat. Especially when testing things like scent or different baits. That is where I gave my father in law a war eagle spinnerbait like the one I had been catching bass on and watched him out fish me 3 to 1 when I switched back to my old strike kings for a while. It was eye opening and we were drifting so position in the boat didn't matter. Same guy didn't catch a bass for the first hour of a trip while I was whacking them, I gave him some scent and had had his first hit in 5 casts and first fish in 5 minutes after using it, that was all he changed. 

 

I am never bothered if people don't agree because we all catch them different ways, as evidenced by the lure choices of the top pros at any event, rarely the same lure or even style of lure. I learn a lot reading stuff others write on here and even take notes in some cases to apply to my own fishing.

[Bankc]

I have good luck on garlic and coffee scents sometimes.  Shrimp seems a lot closer to what bass naturally feed on than garlic or coffee.  So, yeah, I could see how it would work!  

[ATA]

I didnt have any luck with squid scent. But craw does work for me when I cant get any bite. 

[MickD]

On 6/17/2022 at 11:21 PM, WRB said:

Do you mean shrimp scent?

Of all the Black Bass family of bass their olfactory order detection is least developed. Lateral line, sight, hearing are all more developed scenes, odor being at the bottom.

Tom

This may be scientific fact, but I remember when I used to buy shrimp for smallmouth bass.  If it was fresh, they loved it.  If it was cooked, they wouldn't touch it.

 

I can buy into shrimp or other salt water scents being attractive to bass.  Too bad we cannmot do some user group interviews with the bass.

[Bird]

Scent can instill confidence, that in itself makes it worth it for soft plastics.

 

Oh, and I do well with Keitechs with the strong squid scent.

Infact, I remember as a child, old men spitting tobacco juice on their night crawlers and swear they caught more fish, guessing the molasses.

[MickD]

You have to keep your bait warm.

 

Two guys were ice fishing  and one kept catching fish and the other caught nothing.  the unsuccesssful one asked the other what his secret was.  Nothing.  He asked again.  Nothing . He finally said "Come on man, tell me your secret!"  The successful fisherman spit his worms into his hand and said:  "You have to keep your bait warm."  

[MAN]

What I have always pondered is that if fish smell by taste.  Some scent additives are synthetic chemicals formulated to match the requested smell...for the fisherman to be pleased with.  However,  what do they taste like to the bass? What if it doesn't taste a single thing like shrimp? Shad? etc.. Then did it really even matter to begin with? 

 

..a day in the life of MANS empty head. 

 

   

[Cgolf]

1 hour ago, MAN said:

What I have always pondered is that if fish smell by taste.  Some scent additives are synthetic chemicals formulated to match the requested smell...for the fisherman to be pleased with.  However,  what do they taste like to the bass? What if it doesn't taste a single thing like shrimp? Shad? etc.. Then did it really even matter to begin with? 

 

..a day in the life of MANS empty head. 

 

   

 

That and the whole thing with the color red and some thinking it is only good to a certain depth. Red blood will be a certain shade of grey at some depth and in theory red baits would be the same shade of grey still being effective. You can't think fish only eat injured fish at the depths that they see blood as red;)

 

While many scents say they are made with real stuff, we can only use comparative data to figure out which they like and don't like better. In the wild getting solid comparative data is tough though because there are so many variables.

 

For example on that river even though I have fished it 16 years and never had a smallie hit a plastic that hard it is possible they would have hit a beer can that hard that day. I just need the fish to show back up for more data, even my trusty Bandit 100 couldn't buy a bite.

 

[RDB]

9 hours ago, Cgolf said:

That and the whole thing with the color red and some thinking it is only good to a certain depth.

I agree and IMO, it’s because people equate what can be seen, heard, etc. based on what we can witness.  Just look on YouTube at all the videos trying to demonstrate line visibility.  The conclusion on so many of them is there are no differences when the more accurate conclusion should be there are no differences to the human eye.  We don’t know what the bass sees.  Science does provide some clues but even then, most acknowledge that there are still many things that are unknown.

[Jim Levite]

I remember when I was young being addicted to every scent that came out. I would buy the latest in the greatest. Whether they work I have no idea I can't even remember it was so long ago. All soft beats seem to be impregnated with something percent factors.