Scent vs no scent what say you?

[palisade1kid]

I've been talking to others on this one & I was wondering if anyone had any insight one way or the other about using

scents?

[LBSPORTSMEN]

Here is my two cents... A few years back, a buddy and I were deep into some walleye. In a matter of 4 hours we caught between 50-75 (mostly 9-10 inch range, with a few keepers)I was using a 1/4 ounce pink jig with a 3" white Mr. Twister grub. He was usning the same jig with a 3" white power bait grub. He was out fishing me 10:1. After paying him 5 bucks for one single power bait, the fishing was even. So I think scent is definatly an advantage.

His mistake...charging me 5 bucks, I brought the beer!!!

[palisade1kid]

Good point and very funny!

[Team Otter]

No scent for me.

[big musk411]

No spray scents for me, waist of money. I'll take scented plastics any day over non scented. IMO, Live bait has the best scent.

Selling your fishing buddies things in the boat is always fun! I have a Lawyer buddie who thinks he is the smartest man in the world, he wasn't so smart when I sold him a piece of beef jerky for five bucks though

[10,000 Casts]

I am always carefull with my human scent and I will use spray scents to cover it up. I have never found that something scented will outfish something that isn't.

John

[pikerliker]

I have not used scent myself, but I've heard that water temps play a role in how effective they are. I was told that 65 and below they are effective, and above 65 don't bother. Not sure if anybody else has heard this or had experience with it?

~piker

[delmuts]

i don't use spray on scents, but am a strong believer of scented plastics!most of mine are exude, or power baits.

[Jim Almquist]

I am a firm believer in having no scent on my hands before tying up and baiting my hook. I have witnessed my buddy getting skunked when we were fishing jumbo perch and three of us were catching them as fast as we could throw our pimples down the hole and he could not catch a one.I asked if he washed his hands after he ate a bunch of Fritos and he had not so he washed up and rebaited his pimple and started to catch fish.I like Powerbaits on my jigs because it seems to get more bites and they hang on longer.

[BobT]

I am especially careful about washing my hands after fueling. Maybe it's not an issue but I figure the smell of gasoline probably isn't a preferred thing. I haven't any evidence to prove it one way or the other though.

Bob

[MN_Yukon]

I have tried Gulp some in the last year with no success on walleye, in fact I have only caught a few northern. I must have 16-20 different packages of gulp grubs, night crawlers, leeches, minnows and shad. I will jig with the gulp while my kids or wife jig with live bait and after watching them catch a couple I too switch to live bait. I am convinced live bait out fishes, gulp.

Since you can only use Gulp once I think it is product that has been developed strictly to increase sales. Compare it to the soft plastics which you can use more than once. The only remaining advantage I think it might have is to cover your human scent.

I remember back in the '80's we use to spray WD40 on our buzz baits and cranks baits. Heck even one time I dipped a buzz bait into the gas can and caught a fish on the very next cast. All of these were bass though and not walleye. So was WD40 scent or just a masking cover scent? With bass and this agressive approach it was probably just a reaction bite. Still having caught a bass on a buzz bait dipped in gas, bad scent doesn't seem to scare bass off?

I guess we are all just suckers for new products and marketing campaigns.

[mille lacs muskie bum]

I have outfished my buddies numerous times here on mille lacs using scent. Mostly bobber fishing with leeches.I would have 4 bites to thier 1. My favorites are bang crawfish or anis, and also dr. juice tournament walleye.

[palisade1kid]

Now that there have a few reponses,I'll throw in my 2 cents worth.

After catching thousands of eyes with about every presentation there is I'm a firm believer scents are gimmicks.

There may be an instance that scent matters ,but 99% of the time it makes no difference to me anyway.

Checking around on the bad days I've found others were having the same luck so I know it wasn't the fact that me using a plastic bait like the sassy shad was why. They had the leeches out,crawlers or minnows and had the same success.

I will say gas on the shad or pike slime on the shad seems to be a negative,but if clean they work just as well as anything else.

That may be an oxymoron ,but I think you do not have to spray an attractant to get them to bite.

I think color,sizing& speed have more to do with your hooking percentage than scent.

When it comes to eyes,speed kills!

[nofishfisherman]

Like some have said here I think its mainly just marketing when it comes to scents.

I think I could out a few treble hooks on a carrot and sell it as a lure for vegetarian fish if I marketed it correctly.

[Phunnyfarm]

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I think I could out a few treble hooks on a carrot and sell it as a lure for vegetarian fish if I marketed it correctly.

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Are you saying that works? Put me down for ten!

[palisade1kid]

I believe that.

I know a few guys that have every kind of tackle made & can not put a fish in the boat.

You ever see that commercial where the guy goes into his tackle box and lifts up on a hole mass of baits all hooked together & say's will this work. He serious too!OMG!

I have been trying to help them out ,but they will not listen.

I guess it's a pride thing.

The commercial comes out & it's showing all of these fish the bait appearently caught.Then these guy's line up with a pocket full of cash.

Each lure/bait has it's own way of being worked & once you learn how to get it infront of the fish then you'll catch fish.

Sounds simple, but there are so many that struggle.If they think scent will help them then they are buying that product.

[nofishfisherman]

Quote:

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Quote:

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I think I could out a few treble hooks on a carrot and sell it as a lure for vegetarian fish if I marketed it correctly.

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Are you saying that works? Put me down for ten!

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Of course it works, haven't you ever caught a fish with a bunch of weeds in the fishes mouth wrapped around the lure? The fish was just in the weeds having a salad when it mistook your lure for a cruton.

[Kyle Sandberg]

LOL

[captshorelunch]

I use alot of sunscreen when outside and when I am fishing and found that it does not seem to repel fish. Will wash my hands after gassing up, though

[fisherman-andy]

This all depends on how you perceive the idea of scent.

Scent whether it be plastic, artificial or live bait is essential to triggering a fish. That steak sure looks good right? But I bet you it's even better if you can smell it and taste it.

It's just not about presentation, it's about being able to get the fish to take that bait and hold on. Something I believe only a scented bait does.

When the fish are really active you could throw just about anything to trigger them because they are in feeding mode. Simply presenting a lure that can mimick the looks, sound of forage will work.

But when the fish are picky, let's see that's when the scented baits come out which also includes live bait because live bait is naturally scented. It all ties down to triggering and getting that fish to bite down and not let go.

Scented baits whether it be artificial or natural scents can matter and make the difference of whether you catch more fish or not.

I will take a scented bait over a non scented anyday if given the choice.

[TMF89]

MN Yukon, not sure what you're talking about when you said you can only use it once. I've used one piece of gulp for half a day, sometimes more, without any problems... We go up to Canada, and that's all I used last trip. I easily kept up with, and probably outfished all the other guys in my boat. I love the stuff, it's scented, biodegradable (just throw it in the water, doesn't hurt the environment), and it stays on your hook longer than minnows/worms...? I always advise anyone who's going after eyes' to pick up some before they head out. 3" chartruese is the ticket!!!

[palisade1kid]

I suppose if we were fishing side by side & you had the hot bait ,I'd be asking you for one scented or not.

It's just that I've used scented stuff & then went back to my non scented stuff & it did not seem to make a difference.

There's so much marketing out there in fishing tackle ,they'll say anything to get a guy to buy their product when in reality it never helps.

That's why I started this thread,to see what others thought.

Not to be confrontational ,but to see what other really felt with unbiased opinions.

Thanks guys for your input.

[MN_Yukon]

If I remember correctly on a Gulp packaging it states that the scent is activated when wet. So it would seem that after using a piece of Gulp you would NOT want to put it back into the orignal package with the unexposed Gulp. If you did so you would expose all of the Gulp in the package to your wet Gulp and activate them all? Then when you wanted to use a new Gulp they would all be less effective? This is how I interrupted the phrase activated when wet. So basically you can only use a peice of Gulp once?

Also you ever leave a piece a Gulp dry on your hook? It gets hard as a rock. So hard it even becomes difficult to cut it off with a knife.

[fisherman-andy]

Quote:

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If I remember correctly on a Gulp packaging it states that the scent is activated when wet. So it would seem that after using a piece of Gulp you would NOT want to put it back into the orignal package with the unexposed Gulp. If you did so you would expose all of the Gulp in the package to your wet Gulp and activate them all? Then when you wanted to use a new Gulp they would all be less effective? This is how I interrupted the phrase activated when wet. So basically you can only use a peice of Gulp once?

Also you ever leave a piece a Gulp dry on your hook? It gets hard as a rock. So hard it even becomes difficult to cut it off with a knife.

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I love the Gulp stuff. But it doesn't outfish live bait. I will constantly remind myself that and put it to the test even though I know it will fail.

Anyhow I think a Gulp plastic once used can only be used once. I find they wear & tear very easily. And yes you should never put exposed Gulp back into its packaging with the others. It dries super fast if not fished constantly or kept in water. Also never leave them on your jigs or hooks. They will be hard as rock and will have to be cut off with a blade.

[TMF89]

ah, thought you meant once per fish. yes they're water activated, so don't put them back in the package, lol. However, it IS biodegradable, so just chuck it in the lake instead.. I'm not sure why it's not working for you guys, I can go through a lot less Gulp in a day that I would go through minnows, worms, or leeches. But you're right, leaving it on the hook turns it into leather!