Fish Attractants and Fish sense of smell

[fly addict]

A salmon can detect the smell of its home stream five thousand miles at sea, and follow it home to spawn 2 to 5 years later. The old fashion way of fishing for catfish was to set out a stink bait sack composed of chicken entrails and other stinky stuff. Sturgeon are another fish that uses its nose to locate food on the bottom. Sharks have a very sensitive sense of smell. It seems as if most if not all fish have a pretty good scene of smell.

So have you ever used a fish attractant while flyfishing? If so what were your results, and do you still use it. If not why? I know of one attractant manufacture that makes a scent that is supposed to smell like nymphs. I don’t know if it really smells like nymphs because I have never tried to smell one! Would you use one if you thought it would help you catch more fish?

We all know that bait guys use scented baits to catch trout. Stuff like Berkley Gulp to Power Worms are all scented. They even dip night crawlers in some sort of scented attractant. A lot of Bass fishermen have been using scents on their lures for years. I know of a few flyfisherman that have told me that WD 40 works as an attractant for trout.

Is there some unwritten rule that as flyfisherman” we don’t need no stinking scent”! That it might be cheating or unethical? Or is it because the manufactures of fly gear and gadgets have not made some specifically for us?

Do you try to mask the smells of yourself, the insect repellant or cologne you use? How about the hand soap or breakfast burritos you ate before you went out in the morning? Did you fill up your car with gas on the way to the water? All of these scents might end up on your flies. Could they cause a fish to refuse to take your fly as it drifts past their nose?

Here are a few things that I do to at least mask the odors of unwanted smells. I like to stick my hands and nymphs in the stream bottom mud before I start fishing. I also do the same any time I change nymphs. I think it at least makes the flies smell like the stinky mud. I just have to be aware when I eat my sandwich, not to touch it with my smelly hands!

Mark

[planettrout]

So far, these two ingredients have sent our catching.... soaring...



Beef * from Mahogany Smoked Meats (Peppered slab, preferred)




In all seriousness, I played around with this concept, of adding scent to nymphs, back in the 80's...and came to the conclusion that it just wasn't KOSHER for FF...and YES - it worked...


PT/TB

[Western Coachman]

I've wondered the same thing myself. I have also pondered of why certain guides seem to be able to catch so many fish and put their clients on fish so well. Do they squirt Berkley Trout Gravy into their felt soles? All kidding aside, I do not know if it would work. Quite frankly, if it would, I would not use it. Thats just me though.

[lucfish]

This is a good topic Mark. This is my personal take on it. I'm sure it works but as long as I don't have an obvious smell that gas I don't really do anything different in my preparation to fish. The way way I look at it, when trout fishing in a stream the fly generally move fairly fast and the trout has to react quickly before the food source passes him by. So ethical or not I'm sure it makes a difference but for me I don't think it's enough to put something on the fly, although I know of a person who rubs powerbait on his hands to get the human scent off before he flyfishes! Pretty funny actually.

[fly addict]

Luc,
I wondered about if a scent would work in streams also. But I have no doubt about its effectiveness in a stillwater situation.
Mark

[planettrout]

Luc,
I wondered about if a scent would work in streams also. But I have no doubt about its effectiveness in a stillwater situation.
Mark

All my testing was done in moving water...


PT/TB

[trans_admin]

Don't ever try this in a special regs section that requires artificials only. Adding scent to the fly would be categorized as "bait" as per DFG guidelines I believe.

[borntoflyfish]

Back in the 80's I tried the wd-40 thing on some flies. But when I would cast my fly I'd see this oil slick on the water after. I thought to myself this can't be a good thing. So I put a stop to it. I never seen a difference.
Often times I've wondered this same question. What about when it's high water and the river is all mucked up or after a good rain storm.
You've seen how it's been like that for days. At that time do they rely on their sense of smell or are they still sight oriented. I think their eye sight is so Darn Good they rely on most of all. Who's to say at night they don't use their sence of smell even more than eye sight.
Now if they did come up with some stink bate spray. I wouldn't use it. Heck I might as well tie on a worm hook and use worms.

[billybobburro]

Regardless if it is legal, ethical or not I think the closer your fly comes to tasting/feeling real the more likely your are to end up hooking the fish deeper. I have heard that some of the soft egg imitations fool the fish so well they try to swallow them and you end up hooking the fish deep in the mouth.

However, I always make sure to not get any mosquito repellent on my fly even if that means I end up getting chewed up during an evening hatch.

[RubiKinda]

I heard a story of one of the guides in here "chumming" for carp out of his on a trip in Colorado.

I do know that it is common for the White River guides to dip their streamers in some sort of a scent/ mask quite frequently. None cared to share their recipe.

[NorcalBob]

<<<Don't ever try this in a special regs section that requires artificials only>>>
Correct! The F&G code was changed a few years ago to remove the loophole of scents. It is now illegal to apply a scent in artificial lure only waters. And for those of you that wonder if it does work, there is a reason that you can buy this stuff in the fishing store! Yes, it does work!!! But not that I would know......!!!!

[briansII]

Unless I have a head cold, I always use scents.



Does it effect my fish count? I don't know, but the thought has(very briefly) crossed my mind. I can't remember the last time I was skunked.

..................I take that back. Jan 2008. San Luis Res.

briansII

[Lee-B]

Years ago I read where carp have the greatest sense of smell and that you need to rub your fly in the dirt, not use any head cement and try not to touch your fly............you'll go blind. Anyway, I tried everything in the book, cigar smoke, different glues, crushed worms and finally I let the fly lay on a dead animal (squirrel) and it did not detract nor increase my catch rate.

I tried sand crabs in the blender, then soak flies in them for the surf. Different scents made for fishing, no head cement, more head cement, everything I could think of including blending us clams and then combining it with saltwater muscles. I saw no increase or decrease in catch.

When you can hit the wet sand and make 12 casts and catch 12 fish on a fly with Lee Hard as Nails dripping from it, what gives? Same for when you see a ton of fish and they don't bite..............it is fishing.

Now I tried all of this because I knew someone would ask one day......................no not really I was just bored.

I've put a fresh coat of Loon UV Knot sense on a carp fly and caught a carp next cast. Same in Baja with the Loon UV.

My carp flies have Loon UV and head cement on them. Also, those bass frog flies have Permanent marker on the flippers and that stuff reeks but the bass ate them up.

Hungry fish eat, full fish don't. LOL

[Flyjunkie]

Check out the Brains of the various species you wish to target.. if the Olfactory region of the Brain is sizable, like in a Catfish's brain, then scent will be of great importance to them in seeking out food. However if the Olfactory region is really Small and their Visual region is Larger, like in Trout, then scent does not play that big in finding Food.... That being said, I am certain from the little research I've done on the subject, that all fish use scent to find food to some extent..

But I do not worry too much about it, i have chosen Flyfishing as my way of fishing and having fun. I use to bait fish and certainly scent probably had something to do with my catching fish.. But as Flyfishing is all about fishing an artificial to bamboozle a fish into eating it, I would never consider spraying scent on my Trout Fly..

I tried one of those Scents for bass 20 years ago while out fishing with a bass Master type angler, He was curious if it would work.. so I thought I'd give it a go.. I sprayed the Stuff on a woolhead fly I was fishing with pretty good results.. and proceeded to fish it as i had before, I caught bass, but didn't notice that the scent improved my catch ratio.. after a while I cut off the scented fly and replaced with one that was unscented.. and continued to hook bass.. i did notice that when i got home and tried to rinse the scent out of the woolhead fly, i could not remove all of it, the wool had a greasy feeling to it even after washing it with soap.. so i ended up throwing away the now smelly fly.. my one & only time to scent a fly and i came away with the view that it didn't improve anything for me..

if you are thinking of scenting your flies, why not just go back to bait fishing??? when a person takes up the Fly rod there are certain guidelines that are to followed, and spraying scents on your fly certainly isn't one of them.

I'd strongly recommend that if you are thinking of scenting your trout flies, step back and look at your presentations, your ability to read the water, the way you approach a section of water, look beyond Midges and BWOs and study All the various available food items in a given system and match them when they are available, etc... Flyfishing is not easy and thus it provides more rewarding when you get everything right and connect with Fish.. scenting a fly is just a admittance that you are not learning what you should know to better yourself as a Flyfisher...

as Ken Hanley has for his signature on Bulla's Board "..There are no shortcuts....no...shortcuts...no...".. words of wisdom from a Great and friendly Flyfisher...

[jazz on the fly]

I goop this on all my flies. Sometimes they get foul hooked because their patented "sex attract" gets the fish all wound up and they try to do something other than eat the fly.