patrick reif Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 this is a scent question. specifics...I'm a river bassing guy...SMALLMOUTH!!!!! I ain't hatin' on flatwater fish at all, I just prefer the rivers. My house and garage was broken into a couple months back, and 90% of my tackle and gear was stolen. I have to play catch-up for next season now. I use garlic oil as a cooking ingredient in my plastisol and as a worm oil on the finished baits once packaged. I think scents are highly overrated as a "needed" product when it comes to catching fish, but they have a place in masking odors that occur during the pre-trip travels(petting the dogs on the way out, fueling, dipping snuff, ect...) Garlic oil is the strongest I can stand to work with. The ultimate question...??? Do certain "flavors" have an advantage in seasonal situations? Example; springtime. Will craw, and nightcrawler have an advantage over shad and anise? Enquiring minds have to know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadfrog Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 Fish are about the same as people . We don't just crave ice cream in summer . Fish will eat what ever strikes there fancy year round too . Never found any scent that made it worth the trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-billy Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 I've used quite a few different scents. I now use kickin bass craw exclusively. Hands down better than anything else I've tried. It's oil,not water based so the scent lasts a LONG time. It'll even last quite a while on hard baits. Works great in all seasons here in Ohio. I love those river smallies too. Caught 5 this afternoon between 13"-16" from my local river. Water temps are in the low 40's. Almost time to hang up the rods and start making baits for next year. I usually call it quits 1st or 2nd week of December. By then water's in the 30's and the bite gets TOUGH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinamike Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 Patrick, where are you at in NC? Sounds like we do the same kind of fishing. The only flat water I've fished in the last 3 years is farm ponds. But me and my little kayak have covered a lot of water. I used to be big on crawfish scent and used it in the same applications that you're using, but truthfully over the years, I can't say that it's made that much of a difference. I do like to use a little worm oil with some scent to it, but it's mainly because I end up getting water in my bait bag. I think if they're hungry and you put it in front of them, they're going to eat it, smell or no smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick reif Posted November 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 I live in Pilot Mountain Mike. Home waters are the Yadkin, Fisher, Ararat, and Mitchell rivers, but I fish the New in SW Va, and the James around the Natural Bridge area whenever possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 Having your house and garage robbed sucks! People who do that stuff should die from hemorrhoids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dutchman Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 If my memory serves me correctly Dr. Jones stated that fish do not , cannot, "smell" oil based scents, only water based scents. The only ones on the market that I know of that are water based are powerbait and Carolina. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-billy Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 If my memory serves me correctly Dr. Jones stated that fish do not , cannot, "smell" oil based scents, only water based scents. The only ones on the market that I know of that are water based are powerbait and Carolina. Bang scents are water based as are gulp. I personally don't care if they can smell my baits,but I want them to be able to taste them. I don't think scents get me more bites,but fish definitely hold on to scented baits longer than unscented baits. Just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerworm Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 powerbait is oil based scent it comes from their supplier that we can all buy from Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinamike Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 Also you need to keep in mind water based scents cannot be cooked into the plastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dutchman Posted November 14, 2011 Report Share Posted November 14, 2011 If you spray Bang on the water you will see a definite oil slick which would lead me to think it is oil based. Powerbait, I think, says theirs is waterbased. I know when you put it in hot plastic it doesn't act like oil-based scent. It doesn't matter which is water or oil, I guess. The point I was trying to make is FISH, accordeing to Dr. Jones, cannot smell oil based scents, only water-based. I guess if you wanted to use oil based scent to mask your smell go ahead. I am not an expert on scents but I do go to "reliable" sources to find out things. If you go to many of the forums you will find totally inacurate information on many fishing things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglinarcher Posted November 14, 2011 Report Share Posted November 14, 2011 I would have to disagree with Dr. Jones. Perhaps they do not "smell" like you and I do, but they can either detect scent (that would be smelling) or they taste scent at a distance (and that would be smelling). The bullhead catfish has been proven to detect scents in extremely low concentractions. Trout, Steelhead, and Salmon have also been shown to have extreme sences of smell. I don't think Bass and many other game fish are as influenced by scent, but they will at times respond to it. I remember one trout fishing trip where the fish were just following our spinners. We went through several colors, sizes, styles, and all we were getting was a close follow. One of us put an oil based scent on one and he caught a fish on the next cast, and the next, and the next. The other caught nothing until we put the same scent on that spinner and the results were the same - fish after fish after fish. I know, this is rare, but it did and does happen. Remember, even oil will desperse in water to some degree, and all oils desolve a small amount in water. But I will agree that water based scents desperse much better. Now don't get the idea that I think scent is super important, it is not at the top of my list. Still, at times, it does make a difference, so................ as I stated, if Dr. Jones has made the statement that fish cannot smell, then either Dr. Jones has misstated his case or he is being misquoted. IMHO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayburnGuy Posted November 14, 2011 Report Share Posted November 14, 2011 One thing that seems to have been overlooked is what the application of scent has to do with the confidence level of the fisherman. And we all know what having confidence in a lure will do. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powerworm Posted November 14, 2011 Report Share Posted November 14, 2011 i-spike it sell them their scent extracts and they are oil based the powerbait extract that is but if it sells fishermen thats all that matters!! fish dont have wallets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-billy Posted November 15, 2011 Report Share Posted November 15, 2011 Bang pure craw was my favorite scent until I found Kick'n Bass. Bang is definitely water based. I can still smell the kickin bass on my soft baits several days after using them. + Being oil based I can cook it into my plastics. It's also VERY concentrated. A little goes a long way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dutchman Posted November 15, 2011 Report Share Posted November 15, 2011 I have used just about every scent, "attractant" on the market in my bass fishing. I have yet to see any definitive increase in catch by using it. I really don't care to get into a pissing match with anyone on this topic. However, I do think I would take the scientific evidence of Dr. Keith Jones, PhD on scent in bass fishing over what I read on a forum by someone using a scent and saying they catch more fish using it. On page 75 of his book Knowing Bass, Dr. Jones states: "Nondispersing fish scents push the envelope even further, representing a special case. Scents that fail to disperse do so for one of two reasons: either the active ingredients are totally encased with no access to the water whatsoever, or, more frequently, the scent package is water INsoluable. Regardless, a nondispensing scent is not truly a "scent" at all. Unless a substance disolves in the water and eventually stimulates either the taste or smell organ, it may as well have no scent potential. The above logic might seem like a no-brainer, but occasionally I still find product claims that defy comprehension. Oil-based scents are a classic example. Derived from the highly purified oily fractions of processed natural foods like herring, shad, and crayfish, oil-based fish scents are primarily composed of fatty compounds renowned for their insolubility in water. As such, these oily substances offer bass little if any chemosensory information to work with. Yet they are often touted as fish attractants, which they definitely are not. Even when droplets are released from oily attractant, the droplets merely rise(oil being less dense than water) and spread out across the surface to form and oil slick. Oil-based scents never have and never will be true attractants - and that's just a physical reality." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglinarcher Posted December 1, 2011 Report Share Posted December 1, 2011 Your right Dutchman, it is not worth getting into a pissing match about. I can respect your position. Nevertheless............ I remember, while taking a pre-med chemistry class, reading a American Medical Association Journal article by a Doctor telling about a new method he was going to use. It sounded great, but it failed several chemistry criteria. In short, had chemist not reviewed his article, he would have killed his patients. Additionally, having a title like 'Doctor' only means you have a PHD. Having a PHD in fine art does not make you an expert in Physics. I won't even get into the details of why they call doctors "practicing physicians". LOL In short, I got my degree, and my career, in Engineering. I still have my CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. All oils disolve and desperse to some extent in water. Water is known as a universal solvent. Nevertheless, I will conceed, the good Doctor is partially correct. Oil and water do not mix well, so a fish's response to an oil based scent would depend entirely on their sensitivity to what little oil is disolved or despersed into the water. Note: It would be great if oil did not disolve, desperse, or mix with water. We would not have such problems with residual oil in the oceans after oil spills, expecially the deep water blowouts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
