Salt and Garlic. Do bass like them?

[Guest]

Seems most plastics have salt or that smelly garlic. In fact I hate the garlic smell so much I will not even let my tournement partner bring any in my boat.

I have always said that stuff only helps catch fishermen. In fact I could spit on my lure and catch just as many.

Well the good news for garlic haters is that bass DO NOT like the taste of garlic and they have little attraction to common table salt.

So to the garlic lovers....keep stinking everything up cause that is all it is doing.

[Cyberfish]

I think the scents are mainly to cover up other scents that repel fish like gasoline or sunscreen, I think the fish do like powerbait though.

[DoctorB]

Steve - great job in the Durango and Gander tournaments.

I'm in your camp on the garlic and salt scents. The only benefit I see to salt is increasing the density of lures and altering the sink rate of plastics, ie. senkos.

I don't even think having gas or sunscreen on your hands makes a difference. I can't think of all the times I've drilled holes in the winter only to get gas from the auger all over my hands and then proceeded to catch a bunch of walleyes, crappies or whatever I was after.

This week I've been liberally applying sunscreen to myself first thing when I get on the lake and have then proceeded to have great days with the smallies.

I heard somewhere that the gas particles are too big to fit in a fish's olifactory glands. Perhaps that is true, perhaps it isn't.

[Rippinlip]

I am going to say that I have to respectively disagree to the garlic impregnated(sp) baits. At times I do think they enhance the bite, I have fished in tournaments and have did little with power baits and went to Chompers Garlic baits and did extremely well.
At first I thought it was possibly just that one time, but time in and time out they do out produce other baits for me.
I know they stink, my partner lets me know frequently. But when I am boating fish and he is not, he complains less.

[Walleye_GFA]

I've got a wife and three boys who love to fish... I cant afford for everyone to use power bait all the time, I actually use coarse sea salt and garlic powder... I put it in the bag the jiggs or worms came with (the unscented ones), and I think it does a bang up job, at elast it gives them something to think about when they pick it up and not spit it out as fast as it went in...

Wally

[catchin'whopper]

I think salt and garlic work for both reasons mentioned above, mask human scent and letting them hang on an extra second to get a hook set in. both pluses so it seems like why wouldn't you want to use them? BTW, i love chompers twin tails, because of their price, they only come out on tournament days, i love teh thick haze of garlic scent that can be smelled 20 mintues after i leave the area. alos, the smell of power baits in the winter remind me of the bass fishing i will be enjoying come spring time!

anyway, as far as gas, i am not sure it detracts from your presentation as much as everyone says too. i remember reading an article in eitehr bassmaster, infisherman, or fishin' facts about a guy who dipped his lure in a gas tank to prove to the author that gas is not necessarily a deterent. the guy continued to catch bass. i'm no corncob though, i will not be doing that to prove a point on it, but i don't think it is as much a foul odor as it has been said to be.

any more comments?

catchin'

[Guest]

Sure, Any substance that is not water soluble such as fat,oils and even gas have really no effect on the bass one way or the other. They basically cannot taste them. Also it has been proven that bass have really no like for things such as anise,garlic and salt.

One thing that will repel bass is DEET. They hate it.

But if you have confidence in a certain scent,regardless if it is effective, you will catch more fish. Confidence in your lure makes a huge difference.