Masking scent

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

What are the best options that I could put on my bait to mask scent? Stuff like deodorant, hand soap, any food I ate in the truck, natural human scent etc. I saw that strikeking makes a coffee spray, or a would a not so strong fish attractant like magastrike be a better option? 

[MN Fisher]

Anise oil is a good one too - don't buy it from the lure shops...$16 for 2 oz is highway robbery when you can get 4oz for $14.

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A drop or two on a lure and you're set.

[roadwarrior]

I like MegaStrike.

[MediumMouthBass]

Cheapest option, buy a bag of Strike King baits and just put a few on your hands, that coffee scent will last hours and several hand washings.

Plus youll have baits to fish wish, try fishing with a bottle of scent.

[crypt]

I've been using Yum and Cox's juice for as long as I can remember.

[WRB]

The simple bar of soap wrapped in a wash cloth works to remove oil and gasoline odors.

Colgate white tooth paste is a good hand cleaner removes odors is what I use.

Fish attractants don’t attract bass but don’t repel them either.

100% anise oil 2 1/2 oz bottle (Pro Cure) will last a long time about $5. Only need a few drops to a bag of soft plastics.

Gel type attractant like MegaStrike or Edge Hot Sauce work to mask your scent.

Tom 

 

[Bird]

I pretreat every bag of plastics with anise oil.

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

So if I picked up some anise oil or megastrike could I also use it on hard baits and jigs also? And would I want to clean off my baits before I put them back in the box? Like would it leave some sort of residue at the bottom of my box?  Sorry I have no knowledge about scents/fish attractants 

[Bird]

No need to use scent on reaction baits like cranks, spinnerbaits. Imo

Been using it for over 40 years " baitmate with anise" on all soft plastics that require a slower presentation.

Never had any negative effects from storing after use, just the pleasant odor of anise.

[Catt]

If ya gonna use Anise make sure its 100% pure oil, not essential oil or extract. If you're buying it from Wally World or any other grocery store that ain't it! 

 

I know a little girl who orders it through a pharmacy.

 

@Bird It's back 😉

 

[Bird]

@Catt

Ahh yes, fish formula was all I used back in the late 70's.

I see David bethshears " inventor " has something called bait-pop....... makes your bait show up better on live scope.

[Swamp Girl]

I apply scent sometimes, but wonder if it's the right thing to do because my soft plastics are already so salty, i.e. flavorful.

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

Have any of you tried the strike king coffee spay? Is it just like the stuff they put on there rage craws? 

20 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I apply scent sometimes, but wonder if it's the right thing to do because my soft plastics are already so salty, i.e. flavorful.

I manly want it to cover up scent not to actually attract the fish

I don’t feel like I can fish with confidence when I’m worried about scent scaring the fish 

[Catt]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I apply scent sometimes, but wonder if it's the right thing to do because my soft plastics are already so salty, i.e. flavorful.

I use "worm juice" for two purposes first as a lubricant because I fish in grass a lot and the "worm juice" helps my plastic baits slide through easier.

 

I use Fish Formula II or Baitmate (clear) with a ½ oz of 100% pure anise oil added; this is to mast any odor my plastic may have pick up.

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, Catt said:

I use "worm juice" for two purposes first as a lubricant because I fish in grass a lot and the "worm juice" helps my plastic baits slide through easier.

 

Good point. I hadn't considered it. I too pitch into grass, so I have some oily scent that I'm going to carry now too. 

[scaleface]

I never use scents on hard baits. On soft plastics I almost always run  a chartreuse garlic scented marker the total length of the bait down the back .  Tubes , worms, neds... I cant state that the scent helps at all but I do get a lot of bites so it doesnt hurt . I  like the way it makes a lure appear. Even on dark lures it gives them a two tone appearance.

[TLHSS]

I use Liquid Mayhem on my soft plastics. I see lots of crawfish in my local spots, so I use the crawfish flavor to match the hatch. Not messy to apply or store in my tackle bag. 
 

My local fish are spoiled so will only react to Starbucks, so no cheap coffee scents for me. 

[T-Billy]

Megastrike fan here.

[Columbia Craw]

Put a dead crayfish in the bag.  

[Bankc]

I don't generally mess with the stuff.  I've used it on and off for decades, and I haven't noticed any difference either way.  

 

Now, I've heard people say that bass have an extremely sensitive sense of smell.  And if that's true, masking agents probably won't help much.  I mean, drug mules are always trying to mask the scent of drugs with coffee or whatever, and drug dogs are always finding them anyway.  So I think this whole masking idea really only works on animals with a really poor sense of smell, like humans.  And speaking of dogs, some dogs can smell cancer.  And most dogs will bury their noses, deep into a yard sausage, and sometimes even roll around in it.  So whatever animals are smelling, it's probably nothing like what we're smelling.  Which is why I don't think our understanding of scent and animals is very good.  I'm betting a hunter's use of masking agents is less about covering up their smell to hide it from the deer, and more about telling the deer, that yes, there was a hunter here, but as you can smell, there are other deer here too now, which means the hunter has gone.  Or something like that.

 

My point being, when I do use a fish attractant, it's usually whatever's handy.  I'm pretty agnostic to its benefit, so I'm also agnostic to the brand or variety.  At the moment, it's Bang Garlic.  

[FishTank]

Bang and Bait Fuel (still not 100% on this one) is what have with me on my kayak but I have better luck with an empty soft plastic bag from Geecrack.  The smell is super strong and the bags are usually saturated with it. It smells like road kill slathered in garlic.

[BayouSlide]

I have always used Gulp! spray in crawfish scent on my plastics. I always use it so any fish I catch is only when I use it. Therefore it must work, right? 😉👍