Impact of scent on bass

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about bass and how they are affected by scent. We all spend a bunch of time picking out the perfect color of worm, or the crankbait with the perfect rattle but not all of us think about the scent of our bait. I’ve also done a lot of worrying about various items and whether their smell will have a negative impact on my fishing. I mean dogs can smell cancer and I’ve heard that bass can smell 700 times better than a dog so who knows what they can smell?

So what are some things we can do to cut down on negative smells? And is all of this even worth thinking/ worrying about?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. 
-August 

[ConnorC]

In my experience I have never noticed a difference using soft plastics that are scented vs ones that are not. I know there are some guys that swear by that powdery stuff you can put on plastics but imo that’s more of a confidence thing than a fish attractant. 

[WRB]

Dr Kieth Jones Berkley fishing scent specialist has written several books and articles regarding Black Bass ability to detect scent. Suggest looking up Dr Jones and reading his technical info in lieu of endless opinion between anglers.

my opinion it helps when it helps and I use scents not as an attractor but to cover negative odors 

Tom

[crypt]

I use Powerbait on my soft plastics. couple squirts in the bag and I'm good to go.

[A-Jay]

I'm with @WRB

Except I use Megastrike on everything and have been for several years.

I don't even think twice about it anymore.

It's just part of it now.

Done.

Can't say for sure if it gets me more bites, 

but I can't possibly believe it's hurting me either.

My results speak for themselves.

YMMV

A-Jay

[king fisher]

Megabass lures smell very expensive.

[BigAngus752]

5 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I use Megastrike on everything and have been for several years.

^^^this^^^

 

I sometimes, not always, use Megastrike on plastics except when I'm using Berkley MaxScent plastics.  If I'm flipping/pitching (putting my hand on the lure/bait each cast) then I  smear a small amount of MegaStrike on my hands.  The latter is where I see significantly repeatable results.  I can go from no bites to many bites when flipping/pitching by putting a scent on my hands or by cleaning my hands in lakewater with non-fragrance soap.  I have also consistently gone from no bites to several bites by using a MaxScent plastic.  Nothing, however, is a sure thing.  Your results may vary because mine certainly do.  

[Team9nine]

I'm the oddball. I never worry about scent when it comes to catching bass, don't intentionally use attractants, and don't believe it's worth my time to consider changing my approach. But, if it makes you feel better or more confident in your fishing... 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Big user of scents, not really picky about what scents as long as I'm using one.

 

Like WRB I'm not using them for attraction qualities, rather to mask my scent.

 

I use heavy Deet, so I want something to help mitigate that.  

[Glenn]

 

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

Anyone know where I can pick up some megastrike online? Looks like @A-Jay bought out all of tackle warehouses 😂😂

[LrgmouthShad]

Never use insect repellant in a yak and manage where sunscreen gets. I use this for scent

 

I believe it helps 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

I use scent in FW when every fish counts, like in the winter or tough days, particularly in cold and or muddy water.  I think it does make a difference, especially working a bait slow.  Those maxscent hit worms dont look great on a shakey head, but they out fish most other baits.  When it comes to SW, Ive had too many experiences, literally dozens of times in just the past few fluke seasons,  where Gulp has smashed other soft plastics 5 to 1.  Ive also had a half dozen times where Ive been skunked on bites for half a tide, and caught a fish on first cast after adding pro cure to my bucktail.  1 or 2 times is coincidence, but that many times in just a couple years is revealing.  At the very least adding scent is confidence booster for me.  At least I know I'm doing everything I can to get a bite.   

As far as negative smells go, I really to my absolute best to avoid exposing my baits to unnatural chemicals, like suntan lotion or bug spray.  I think bug spray can hurt your chances with live bait, much less plastics.

[bowhunter63]

I use it. I think they hold it a little longer. SK coffee scent I really believe in. I can’t find it anymore . Power bait I think works good too . Try to put every advantage in my corner 

[king fisher]

I once did an experiment to see if salmon fry were attracted or repelled by different scents.  I realize this was not a scientific experiment because of the many variables I was not able to control making my hypothesis at most suspect, but I did find my results interesting.  Also I know this has nothing to do with bass, but salmon have an even better sense of smell, so there may be some resemblance in my findings.  I also have used many scents that I am positive have helped me catch adult salmon, so I'm not saying salmon don't react to different scents.

 

I would clean salmon every day at my camp on a river.  Thousands of salmon fry would be attracted to the fish cleaning table, and pick at the scraps that I tossed in to the water.  Their favorite snack was salmon eggs.  One day I decided to see if they would grab an orange plastic bead the size of a salmon egg.  As soon as I would throw a bead into the water a fry would immediately eat it.  They would suck it in, then spit it out very quickly.  The next fry would then grab the bead and do the same thing.  Within a minute or two maybe 100 fry would have sucked in the bead and spit it out.

 

I then started applying different scents to the bead.  I used numerous commercial scents that I used for my salmon fishing, along with actually rubbing the bead in salmon flesh, and soaking it in salmon egg juice.  The fry would suck a bead in and spit it out at the same rate as the bead without the scent.  They probably didn't like how hard the bead was and I wish I would have had a soft plastic bead to try thus eliminating another variable in my experiment.

 

After applying scents I thought would be an attractant.   I started putting scent on that many people thought would be a repellent to fish.  I tried dish soap, gasoline, diesel, sun screen, DEET, and human saliva.

The results were the same.  They picked it up, and spit it out at the same rate as before.

 

The only conclusion I could come up with was at this particular time and circumstances, the fry were feeding by sight.  They did not care what the bead smelled like, it looked like an egg and they were going to try and eat it.  Once they determined it wasn't a real egg they would spit it out, and the competitiveness of the school of fry was so strong they would all try the egg even though the others had already rejected it. 

 

I also tried putting the same scents on real salmon eggs, and they would crush the egg, hold it long enough to get all of the juice out of the egg, then spit out the left over membrane.  They did this exactly the same with all eggs regardless of scent.

 

I do not in any way suggest that bass fry would act the same as the salmon fry did, or that salmon fry in a different location, time, or of a different size would react in the same way.  I also am not suggesting that adult bass, or salmon don't react to scents, but I am willing to suggest that there are times when a fish will feed almost exclusively by sight, and when this happens scent doesn't seem to be a factor in determining if they hit a bait, or how long they hold on to a bait.

 

I will add a side note, that after years of fishing for salmon, I believe salmon are not repelled by petroleum products, but can actually be attracted to them.  Especially WD 40  I will not use WD 40 as a scent because I will not pollute the any water I am fishing, but there was a time I did use it and it works.  For some reason mosquitoes are attracted to gasoline, and fish may be attracted for the same reason.  I don't know why, but I no longer care if I get gas or oil on my hands while fishing.

 

 

[DaubsNU1]

Really got in to attractants in the 1990's. Fishing buddy read some research comparing sense of smell....

• Human's can smell drop of vinegar in two litre bottle of water...
• Hunting dog can smell drop in a 55 gallon drum...
• LM Bass can smell drop of vinegar in an olympic sized swimming pool(!)

I don't remember the study, or the researcher...but that story has stuck with me for 30+ years. 

 

Another quote from back in the day: "All things equal, women will out-fish men...make-up contains fish oils...women get makeup residue on their hands...touch lures / lines...attract fish." 

 

True? I dunno. There were times when the former Mrs. Daubs would out-fish the men. 

 

I haven't used attractants in years. Maybe it is time to try again. Heck, anything to help me boat more fish!

 

 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

If I gas up on the way to fishing I always wash my hands like crazy afterwards.

[Catt]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

Dr Kieth Jones Berkley fishing scent specialist has written several books and articles regarding Black Bass ability to detect scent

 

Dr. Jones wrote Anise repels bass!

 

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.

 

The only place y'all find 100% pure anise oil is at your local pharmacy, the rest will be 40-70% max. 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

39 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

Dr. Jones wrote Anise repels bass!

 

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.

 

The only place y'all find 100% pure anise oil is at your local pharmacy, the rest will be 40-70% max. 

 

That's interesting because like you I know 100% that Anise doesn't repel Bass.

 

I switched over from garlic to anise oil at the beginning of this summer and had my typical results.     

 

The reason I switched scents is the thought that fish can become conditioned to smell.   If they can learn baits, why not smells.   So from now on I plan on rotating scents every season or two.   

[GRiver]

This a tough one….. I don’t think of it as an attraction, it doesn’t draw them from a distance. They have to be close to smell it, which means they were already interested. I think it does cover up, what ever we’ve done to the bait, through production or handling the bait.

I use baitmate, I can get it locally, I think it helps. Think I going to try what @Catt with the extra shot. 
Why can’t they make fishing scent that will last as long as 90 wt gear oil. When I get that on my hands, it last for days, even after washing them. 

[Jig Man]

I have tried it both ways and never have seen any difference.  I make a lot of my own plastics and don’t use any scent.

[Mike L]

At one of the Elite Series tournaments I was a Marshall at about 7 yrs ago, my pro would dip his plastic in a jar. 
After awhile I noticed he only did it for his punch rig. 
 

He was one of those who didn’t like to talk at all so I didn’t get a chance to ask why, but after awhile it became obvious. 
 

See @Catt reply 

 

Personally I mix 3 parts baby oil to 1 part 100% Anise and have for years. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

[fishhugger]

i never use scents.  it just seems mainly like a confidene booster, - which i guess can be as important as anything, when u get down to it.  also, i don't want to get some smelly scent all over everything.  

[Mike L]

My opinion is just that,

My unscientific and unproven opinion is that I don’t believe the smell of anything is specifically an “attractant” to make a bass approach and then hit a plastic solely because of its smell, regardless of what the marketing says. 

I firmly believe it’s the taste that makes them hold onto it longer once they grab it to give the angler an advantage in everything that implies. 
 

A certain smell of anything you add is not a short cut.
You still have to make an accurate cast, present it to get its attention, make them bite, feel the hit, set the hook and land her….In that order. 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[WRB]

You become a believer when your fishing partner is kicking your butt using the same worm and you put the scent he is using and start catching bass.

I don’t agree with Dr Jones on everything but it’s hard to argue with Berkeley’s success!

Tom

14 hours ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Never use insect repellant in a yak and manage where sunscreen gets. I use this for scent

 

I believe it helps 

This stuff will ruin your olfactory sense for days… everything smells like Smelly Jelly. I had a plastic jar break in the boat locker oh my🤬

Tom