what is a good fishing smell to put on bait or lures?

[GhostHawk]

I am pretty sure back east they have been using anise to catch spring perch for a long long time. Small jig, small fold of cloth threaded onto the hook, and a drop of fresh scent with every fish caught.

I know my dad used it in darkhouse spearing. But if it was just to attract perch or what I don't know. But he would take a scrap of cloth, maybe 2" square, wrap it in a piece of wire so it would sink. And put a half dozen drops of Anise on it. Then drop it down to the bottom.

Maybe it just covered up the human scent. Maybe it attracted more perch and batfish to the hole he was fishing.
But he had awefully good luck at consistently getting pike from 5 to 15 lbs.

But I also know he had patience, fished slower. He also had a sense for when a big one was hanging back, watching.
By being slow and patient he could ussusally finnesse them in.

[quilbilly]

Ever read a can of WD-40?

"Contains Petroleum Distillates" Yeah, like what you put in your car to run it, gasoline, naptha, benzene, all that good stuff.

Yeah lets put that on our hooks and introduce more of that stuff into the waters and the fish I eat. Sounds good.

Sigh, sorry, pet peeve of mine. THINK first. Read the label.

There are many attractants, but nothing for crappies as good as a live wiggling minnow. Has the right shape, smell and everything.

Until 25 years ago (if memory served) WD-40 was an outstanding scent for bait and lures but the formula changed somehow and it stopped working.
Smelly Jelly in crawfish flavor is excellent as is shrimp oil. Garlic and salt odors seem to be particularly good for trout in Power Bait.

[trapper9260]

If you use worms from a manure pile will get you alot of pan fish. Alot of fish go after them. It is not how big the worm is it is the scent the worms give off. As for trout I found that for the stock trout the state let out . Roster tail that is yellow and black spots with a black small feather tie to the triple hook, same as with the white and and black spots with a small black feather on the hook also, both in 1/8 oz . then you have also I do not what it is call ,it is a spinner lure with 2 brass blades like and a small triple hook with also a black feather on it. It is not a big lure .the 3 lure works on trout .

[Wolfe]

Anything that a Fish eats for natural food works well. If you have an old Food Processer, just dig some Clams, Sea worms, night crawlers, crickets, Corn, etc... and mix it with cornmeal, flour and Bang! You have dough balls that will catch anything that swims. you can add a bit of sand to some and they work great as Chum.

[skrapyard628]

Anything that a Fish eats for natural food works well. If you have an old Food Processer, just dig some Clams, Sea worms, night crawlers, crickets, Corn, etc... and mix it with cornmeal, flour and Bang! You have dough balls that will catch anything that swims. you can add a bit of sand to some and they work great as Chum.

Thats one dang good idea! Ive found that the river cats around me just love clam and bluegill cut-bait. Sometimes I spend more time digging for clams when Im fishing the river than actual fishing.

This year I may have to try blending up some bluegill and clam to make dough balls. It would be a good way of stretching out the use of the clams because sometimes I can only find one or two of them.

[marek313]

I dont believe any scents work on any moving bait its all fish instinct and reaction. I think it all depends more on weather then bait. Some days you could catch fish with an empty hook or at least feels that way and another day nothing works.

[brass410]

depends on which sex of fish you want to catch, if you want then big honey females go with something manly ( think black American express card or maybe platinum) if if you want the smaller feisty males, well maybe makers mark , or maybe a 15yr old single malt that way if you don't hook up you wont have to waste the bait. You can just drink it and get a call girl in on the credit card, if anyone asks you tell them not much of a catch but I had fun. LOL

[brass410]

whoops see what happens when the liquor cabinet is to full and I'm home alone under self qauretine.

[DukeConnors]

Scents seem to work when bait fishing for bottom feeders. Have a friend who swears by prep h and wd40. he catches quite a few cats and carp.

My favorite dough ball scents have been vanilla and strawberry jello.

[Charlie Horse]

i know WD 40 works well to catch fish but what else? spring is coming and thats when i fish the most for crappies and what ever is running. let me know your secrets?

It's funny but you spray a yellow rooster tail with WD-40 and the catfish won't leave it alone.

[Minerat]

We used beef spleen for trout back when I was growing up around Ft Collins there was a store/butcher shop just north of the Cache La Pouder River where you could buy it for a quarter in a small ice cream cup. Better then Pautzke's green label eggs. I use powdered garlic and course salt on all my plastics with a little olive oil to keep them from sticking.

[Traffer]

Depends on the type of fish. I had amazing results making dough balls with strawberry koolade for carp. I doubt if any other fish would like it though. We used to use aweful smelling dead suckers to fish for big Northern Pike throgh the ice in dark water.

[GhostHawk]

Traffer you might be surprised.

I caught a big channel catfish in june that I could not lift with one hand on a strawberry jello/cornmeal doughball.

And she hit it HARD.

[Misery-Whip]

No fancy sents here.

For trout, salmon, bottom fish, sharks, and whatever else wanders by, hotdog chunks and or marshmellows always worked for me. Just hook, line, sinker(sometimes powdercoated). In really murky conditions a flasher.

Cheaper the better....

[slohunter]

Cheapest garlic pan spray you can find.

[OldBearHair]

My dad made up a stinkbait that really stunk bad. Limburger cheese, river shiners dead from the 3x6 ft minnow tank, laid out on a board in the sun, Anise, a little flour, and shredded cotton to keep it on the hook somewhat. It was all put in a paint can and stirred well. You would use a stick and push a small treble hook with a bit of sponge and lift up and down a coulple times. I was a ten year old boy in 1945 and we were fishing in a canal system near KMA (Camay) Texas . We had a small real cork about two feet up the line. Drop baited hook in the water and immediately pull out a nine inch channel cat. We sat there and caught same size catfish until they finally quit biting. Catch and Release. Never did see or hear of the bait working on anything else. LOL Dad probably got rid of it because of the terrible smell.

[Minerat]

There are some of those stink baits out there that you really have to want to catch fish to use. I'll tell you that leaving whole anchovies on your boat in one of Lake Powell's 100 degree days is one. Even freezing them over night doesn't help so by the third day you want to just keep the boat moving to keep the stink off and hope the wind does not blow from the stern. Ain't no stripper worth it to me.