This could be a really dumb question, but here it is...

Are the fish attractants and sprays or scents that you spray onto your lures that much of a help. I have never used them, but I own a bottle of attractant, don't know why I haven't used it yet, but I haven't. So anywho. do the sprays and dips really work?

The Radio Guy

I'm told they work more as a cover scent than and actual attractant.  Now maybe the craw sent would work a little better than the GARLIC.  I'm pretty sure bass don't use garlic as a menu item.  LOL

Someone posted a link on the study of this by a university.  I'll try to find it.  

But the study concluded that a fish "holds-on" to a bait significantly longer when it has a scent or taste on it.  So, I would say that it doesn't hurt to spray some on your plastics.  It just might give you another second or two to set the hook before she spits it out.

i believe that they are more of a confidence booster... I use the spike it kind because it also dyes the bait..

Scientific studies have indeed shown that bass cannot locate prey by scent........so if scent works, I would assume they would have to be right up on the bait.    

I believe one scientist noted that bass are not repelled by human scent - if anything the addition of human scent to a piece of plastic makes it more natural....remember, bass aren't deer - they don't sniff the water to sense if any predators are nearby.        

I would love to see more scientific studies (or perhaps find some more) on bass.......I think there are a lot of myths in bass fishing and it would be interesting to do some experiments.

I was fishing amateur in a pro-am tournament one time and guess what the pro was using for attractant - - WD40!   :-?  (yes...he actually caught fish that day, too)

Personally - - some of my most productive plastics (Bobby Garland Hula Grubs, Gambler Hibdon series flipping tubes) have no odor, no salt, no impregnation of any kind.......they're just straight-up poured plastic.

Another curious thing.......the popularity of rubber skirted jigs.   Next time you have a rubber skirt - put it in your mouth (now you know what I do with my free time) - - they taste horribly bitter!!   But you can reel a bass all the way back to the boat without setting the hook with em'.   :-?  

It's all in the eye of the beholder! It don't use any scent and most soft baits come with it anyway.

There are people that swear on it and loose confidence when fishing without scent. Confidence is most important part in fishing (and that there is fish around off course).

I use attractants for two purposes first as a lubricant because I fish in grass a lot and the attractant helps my plastic baits slide through the grass easier.  I use Fish Formula II or Baitmate (clear) with a ½ oz of pure anise oil added; this is to mast any odor my plastic may have pick up.

I am not sold on it. I tried it and did not notice any significant difference in my catch. Its too messy to fool with.

               I think Catt hit it on the head and I believe that it also gets the bass to hold the bait longer. I have been using "Jacks Juice" for years and love the stuff.

Nothing leaves the boat without an attractant.

Does it help? Don't know.

Does it hurt?  Don't know.

But it must do something to attract the fish and then have them hold on as Berkley has put a lotof money into research and they have their Gulp! series of baits plus the Power Bait series that has flavors inpregnated into the plastic.

The Anise oil that Catt uses forms the base of the "home made" attractants my old fishing buddies always used and some still do when they make their own sauce to soak their plastics before an outing.

I have used it and you can tell when you have it on your baits and hands.

So, in my humble opinion, I use attractants, even on crankbaits and spinnerbait skirts.

I use Carolnia Lunker Sauce; Mega Strike; Jacks Juice; and Kick'n Bass; unless I make my home brew when the wife is out of the house.

I also will agree with Catt on this. There are times when I have out fished my partner using  a sent, but for the most part I use it to cover any bad sent!

Since it causes the fish to hold the lure for a longer period of time, it makes a lot of sense to spend a few cents putting scents of your bait.   ;D

I also believe that a bass will hold on a little longer to a scented bait then a non-scented bait, so most of the time I will use scents on my baits if their not already scented. But as far as gulp goes, that stuff really does have sometype of "scent" in it trust me.. Now I don't know how much the bass like it, but I have out fished people fluke fishing who are using kellies, squid, spearing etc, and im using Gulp. I rarely fish "real" bait for fluke anymore, gulp works just as good *or even better* then live bait IMO, also gulp is so much cheaper in the long run then buying bait every day, or spending time catching bait. The only live bait that I will choose over gulp for fluke is live snapper, fresh baby herring, fresh baby mackerel, fresh small bunker, fresh baby mullet, giant size kellies (like 4-5inchers), or big fresh spearing. Now that might be a whole bunch of baits that I will choose over Gulp ;D, but all the baits I listed are not one bit simple to get.

I'm with justfishin on this one, can't stand the mess. From what you guys are saying it sounds like I'm missing out on a few fish by not using it. Who knows, maybe I'll give it a try again this year.

You know, I was thinking. Maybe a scent would be the ticket. My girlfriend is European (Austrian/German) and you know they don't shave their arm pits. Hers get all smelly and stinky in the summer so I am going to rub some gitzits and spinnerbaits under there and see if that works. I love that woman. ;D

....here's that study I was talking about:

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20040424/bob8.asp

Here's the section about scents from the article:

Accounting for taste

There's good evidence to support the efficacy of lures that use chemistry to catch fish. Sometimes anglers spray a fishy or wormy scent on a hard-plastic lure, or a soft lure incorporates such feeding stimulants into its material.

Once prey has been taken into a bass' mouth, the fish judges its taste and texture and decides either to chew and swallow its victim or to spit it out, says Paul J. Linser, a biologist at the University of Florida in St. Augustine. He and his colleagues are among the researchers who have studied largemouth bass behavior during this final stage of predation.

In some of their experiments, the scientists fed bass goldfish and artificial food balls made of gels of varying compositions. Video recordings of largemouths after they had taken up food but not yet swallowed suggested the fish were grinding their food back and forth at the rear of their mouths between tough plates that have short, rasp-like teeththe so-called pharyngeal pads. This chewing action pulverizes relatively soft food such as invertebrates and strips the scales off piscine prey, says Linser.

The experiments suggest that bass rely heavily on their sense of taste at this stage of feeding. Microscopic analyses of a bass' pharyngeal pads show taste buds scattered among the teeth. In lab tests where the artificial food balls didn't contain any feeding stimulants such as pureed shrimp or minced fish, bass spit out the ball within 3 seconds. When feeding stimulants were present, even when they made up as little as 1 percent of the food ball, bass held the balls in their mouth longer and swallowed them significantly more often.

Lure makers recognize that the longer a fish holds a lure in its mouth, the more likely it is that an angler can set the hook and reel in the catch.

I never used fish attractants to put on my lures.  I sort look at them as overkill but when things are slow I guess a little help would be nice.  

I fish a lot of soft plastic. You could look at them and say they are loaded with fish attractants.  So I guess I have been using them for years  .

You know, I was thinking. Maybe a scent would be the ticket. My girlfriend is European (Austrian/German) and you know they don't shave their arm pits. Hers get all smelly and stinky in the summer so I am going to rub some gitzits and spinnerbaits under there and see if that works. I love that woman. ;D

Ummmm- Is that an attractant??? I suppose it would be a natural smell that would remind you of home. 8-)

I got a couple bottles of Bang that I bought several years ago , but I have heard  that after awhile it goes bad. Is this true should I throw it away and buy new or go ahead and use it ? ?

This could be a really dumb question, but here it is...

Are the fish attractants and sprays or scents that you spray onto your lures that much of a help. I have never used them, but I own a bottle of attractant, don't know why I haven't used it yet, but I haven't. So anywho. do the sprays and dips really work?

The Radio Guy

No one knows for sure.  In his book "Knowing Bass", Dr. Keith Jones does a good job of covering the scientific knowledge on this subjet.

I have read that some scientist believe that fish have sensors in their mouths that can detect traces of carbon- and we know that carbon is the building block of all things organic- then fish may assume that a craw scent, or something similar, gives it a natural carbon appeal. I know that I've gotten gasoline on my hands before an outing and not noticed a decline in fish caught- strange? Although I like justfishin's idea of rubbin them in my girlfriends armpits.

You know, I was thinking. Maybe a scent would be the ticket. My girlfriend is European (Austrian/German) and you know they don't shave their arm pits. Hers get all smelly and stinky in the summer so I am going to rub some gitzits and spinnerbaits under there and see if that works. I love that woman. ;D

That is GROSS!!!  If that works, do you think you can bottle it and mass market it as the next "As seen on TV" product?  

I may want to invest, so let me know how it turns out!!!  ;D