Conference wahoo::fishing

    I haven't tried any for bass, but I did buy a bottle of Berkley
    attractor for Salmon/Trout for my last trip to Winni.  I paid about
    $7.95 for it, and used it while trolling live nightcrawlers behind
    a davis rig with leadcore line.  It may have been coincidental,
    but I did catch 6 salmon all between 3.5 to 5lbs in the three days
    I spent there.  No shorts; even the single laker caught went close
    to 5lbs.
    My other half feels I should use it everytime I lower a line.  I'll
    need another weekend like that before I formally commit myself to
    it, but I do see different scents used on the majority of bass fishing
    shows I see on cable.  Athough I don't fish for bass myself, the
    idea of scent has to be valid for all species.
    carlo

out here in calif. the latest rage in fish scents is of all things wd-40
    the striper and halibut fishermen are swearing by it. i'm not sure
    how it would work in fresh water but i find it amazing that it works
    at all. i've always read that oil was a real turn off to fish.
    aparently wd-40 masks human smell and this accounts for its
    effectiveness but who really knows.
    

    re:.2
    'Back East' I haven't seen anyone deliberately (sp?) spray WD-40
    on thier lures/baits, but can attest to the fact that it is about
    the only lube that is not harmful to mono line.
    
    Bagel

    I have read about wd-40 as a fish attractant...I have not tryed
    it yet, but hey why not?
    
    Bruce

    I seem to have good luck with Mann's FS454... they say it's a "feeding
    stimulant" instead of a scent, but whatever it is, it does seem
    to make the fish like those rubber worms/grubs better. I haven't
    tried it much on other kinds of lures, but it might help with them
    too...
    
    Ed

As Ed pointed out, FS454 is not intended to act as an attractant.  It's 
purpose is to "fool" a fish into thinking that the bait (usually an 
imitation worm) is the real thing.  The effect is that the bait remains in 
the fish's mouth a little longer before it realizes it has been "tricked" 
and thereby gives you more time to set the hook.

-HSJ-

    Check out notes 299.* and 511.* for more scents info

    
    I've tried it twice not much of a difference I still didnt land
    anything. does anyone else have the problem of the stuff leaking
    all over the place, that was the biggest turn off, I dont think
    smells that nice so I leave it at home in the cabinet,

    
    I seem to remember a long note with a lot of entries on fish scent
    earlier.
    I can't say that using scent is directly attributable to catching
    fish.  ie, would that headache have gone away anyway if I HADN'T
    taken that aspirin?
    The scent will help to remove your scent or at least mask it and
    it is a good lubricant for your line.  I generally put several squirts
    on the reel itself and rub a bunch on my hands.

    I also keep several jars of pork with the "water" removed and replaced
    with scent.
    
    TBDW
    

    I just bought a bottle of Dr. Juice, Muskie/Pike scent, because
    it was only $1.00 at a discount place. My question is (and can anybody
    be expected to know the answer to this?) will this scent have some
    sort of effect on bass too? Can they be that different? Can I assume
    that since pickerel are related to pike that it will attract them
    the same way? (Who needs an attractant for pickerel? The only pick
    I want is that HUGE 30+" inch one that got away from me twice last
    year!)

    Ed

    	From what I remember about the stuff I had, there were ingredients
    on the bottle which said something to the effect that the active
    ingredient was essence of (some type of bait). If it was, for example,
    essence of shad, and there were shad in the bass waters your fishing,
    then it would probably work. At any rate, I doubt it would hurt
    when you condsider people that smoke cig's usually get that smell on 
    their line/lures when they fish and still catch fish.
    
    	RAYJ
    
    BTW - If by putting this stuff on the lure you feel more confident,
    there is something positive to be said for that too regardless of
    what the fish think about it.

    RAYJ,
    
    This stuff doesn't list ingrediants like that. It claims to have
    fear/sex/aggression pheremones (smells), presumably designed for
    the specific species of fish on the label, to stimulate them to hit
    your lure. I've seen the kind that say "essence of crawdad" whatever
    that is. Most of these things smell like fish oil - which is could
    very well be the base - or something similar.
    
    I did have a pickerel slam a black rubber worm with FS454. They
    usually don't show such an interest in them otherwise.
    
    Ed
    
    Ed

      I have Walleye and Bass scents (Dr Juice) in my tackle box, and
    the standing joke is that to catch Walleye, you put on the Bass
    scent and visa-versa. ;-) 
    
      Seriously though, I think the scent is used more to mask the 
    human scents that get on the lures then it is to attract the fish.
    Since I have been catching a few Walleye lately on Bass scent, and
    have been catching very few Bass, and since they are caught in
    the same area of lake that I fish, maybe (as one previous noter said)
    it is just that they feed on the same bait, and the scents use the
    same bait "essences" as their base.
    
      I fished with someone recently who took some of the Dr Juice scent
    and washed his hands in it before he handled any tackle. The idea may
    be a good one, but eating with those hands may not be too appetising.
    
    -Ron-

    It just occurred to me that fish are no dummies - they learn - and
    I wonder if these fish "attractants" can't somehow become repellants
    once the fish wise up and associate the scents with things to be 
    avoided. Then what..?
    
    Ed
    

    The best use of "fish attractants" is to mask other odors that might
    turn the fish off to the bait......human scent, gasoline/oil and
    pollutents. I put it on my line/reel, lures and hands.
    
    It may help to turn a neutral fish into a biting fish, but if a fish is
    feeding, it is feeding and can only be turned off - not 'on'.
    
    As for getting use to the stuff.......that would be pretty hard. Its
    natural and I can't see a fish getting use to something that is natural
    and then avoiding it. Maybe they are that smart...sometimes I do
    wonder, but I don't think they get use to it. To me it would be like a
    fish getting use to a minnow as danger.......not possible. Now the line
    and the lure, maybe, but not the smell (IMHO).
    
    I see to many of the pro's using this stuff in tournaments. If it
    didn't help, these would be the first guys to stay away from it. Could
    be that it is all in the mind, but as someone said, if it makes you
    more confident, go for it...
    
    As I said in an earlier note....I tryed the stuff on blue gills. They
    didn't take it without and charged it (the lure) with the stuff on it.
    So for what its worth, it turns them on......or not off may be the
    right thing to say.
    
    Tight lines, Ranger Ron (fish_formula_freak:^)

Has anybody seen the tape Salmon Spectacular.

Where they run a camera behind a downrigger and in front of lures
underwater. There is actual footage of salmon taking different lures.

One of the interesting test they did was with scents, since salmon
have highly developed sense of smell. 

They first touch the lure with a bare hand and the other lure with a 
hand that was washed with a special soap that masks the human scent.
There was no difference in preference, next they tried products
on the market that are being sold can't remember if they mention 
what kind still no tremendous difference. The last try was bilge water,
when they ran the lure through the bilge water it looked black with 
petroleum products on it the salmon jumped all over that lure every time.
The guy was so surprised in the results mentioning if he would of only 
known he would of tried to market it.

The footage was impressive, at the end he catches a 56 lb king salmon.
This footage has taken over 9 yrs to put together, proving many 
misconceptions to long to mention.


I rented this tape at Northboro Trading Post for $3 for 3 nights.
What a deal, a must for people who like to troll for salmon opr any other 
fish much to learn from these underwater shots.

    re .16
    
    Around here (Columbia river system) we spray our herring and shrimp
    with WD 40.  They seem to love it.  I don't know why.
    
    Ken
    
    

    On Sunday, I went Salmonm fishing in Puget Sound with a friend from
    MA.  We fished for silvers and kings with cut plug herring.  I picked
    up two small ones.  While digging around in the storage locker, I
    stumbled onto the can of WD-40.  All of a sudden I remembered that I
    had read about WD-40 here and in Hunting and Fishing Lies ( a local
    publication).  Fishing had died, oh what the heck.
    
    We sprayed it on a rig that has been fairly good for me lately; a 
    00 Les Davis dodger with a #4 Point Defiance spoon 24" back.....
    dripping with WD-40.  We trolled this at about 30 ft.  Man, it was one 
    silver after another.  The peoblem was that they were just too small to 
    keep.....like less than a pound.  We'd give the spoon another squirt,
    drop it down and within minutes another salmon.  We also managed to
    hook a couple chinooks under the keeper limit of 22".
    
    I told my neighbor, a Boeing Engineer (real analytical guy), about this
    on Sunday night.  He played hookey yesterday and went fishing.  He
    trolled cut plug herring at 60', which was liberally dowsed in WD-40.
    He called me up to tell me he caught his first king this year; a
    respectable 18 lbs.
    
    Anybody else try this on salmon???
    
    /brett
    
    P.S.  TIP:  Hold your lure/bait over the side before you spray it with
                WD-40 :-)   

    Ok, now who wants to try it on bass???