Scents and Attractants: Do They Work? | Bass Fishing

I'm my experience, when Im night fishing for largies, I def catch more, as well as they seem to hold on longer. I only started using them because I dip and I don't want that on the bait because that's definitely a fish repellent

I can say something about scents and fish. I am not a very good fisherman, but I have spent a lot of time watching how fish behave in aquaria. The coolest things I ever saw involved a bunch of largemouth bass and some fathead minnows (tuffies). I had a large tank divided into 2 compartments with a glass partition. I kept fathead minnows on one side and I put hungry largemouth bass in the other side. I did this a lot of times to be sure what was happening. The bass usually just swam around and ignored the minnows. But, when I squirted in some water (from a fathead minnow tank) into the bass side, the bass started striking the glass trying to get at the minnows. I think that the odor of the minnows triggered the bass to find food like a human responds when walking past a bakery where fresh bread is being made. I thought it would be great if I could bottle this odor and coat a lure with it. There were two problems. One, the water from the minnow tank had to be fresh. Wait a day and it would not work. Two, how could an odor like this stick to a lure? It is water soluble. Eventually I found out how to preserve the minnow odor so that even after a month or more, it still had the ability to trigger feeding behavior in bass. Recently, I got an idea about how to make it stick to a lure and slowly dissolve off. I was using one of the little Cascade dishwasher soap pods that is coated with a clear coating that dissolves after coming in contact with water. The coating looks like cellophane, but it dissolves quickly. I found out that the coating is polyvinyl alcohol and that I could get some that I could paint on a lure and it would take a half hour or more to dissolve off. Now I am planning to mix some of the preserved minnow odor and some of the polyvinyl alcohol to paint on lures. After the stuff dries, the minnow odor will slowly dissolve off and leave a trail behind the lure. Plus, the odor still left on the lure should make the lure taste like a minnow. I figured out how to do this for any bait fish odor, but I want to start with fathead minnow odor. I will need some volunteers to test whether this works. I bet it will work well for crappies and bass, but I won't know until I try.

I think scents help a little but I like to apply a gel type scent because if you are throwing into thick cover or over lily pads it helps the lure slip through rather than stick especially on top of a dry lily pad.

Another great video. 👍

I have used scents for decades and I think they do work to some extent. They for sure cover up BAD smells like your own oils from your hands, gas etc. I think it also makes them hold on longer. Not a LOT longer sometimes. One time I tossed out my texas rig plastic worm, put down my pole to light a cigarette. When I picked my rod back up I noticed my line wasn't where I cast it. Not even close. It was more than 30 feet to the left and moving. I set the hook and caught the bass but the point is that bass picked up that worm and held on for a LONG time and I don't think that would have happened without whatever scent I was using back 30 years ago when this happened. I always keep scent with me and every so often I will give my baits a little spritz. It surely can't hurt and the stuff doesn't cost much. Hell, you can make it yourself with cod liver oil and a touch of garlic or plain old sea salt.

Basically Glenn's answer was what we all decided on the forums. It couldn't hurt and it might make them hold on longer. The rest is a confidence thing.

I know when im crappie fishing and the bite died down scent definitely makes a difference for me. But for bass i never had scent work like that. Thanks for the content we appreciate it. God Bless

I myself use a dye scent and i feel like it does make the fish hold on longer. Im not putting it on all my lure like a sinko. But if im fishing deeper with a jig or texas rig i feel like its helpful. A sinko on the other hand i dont use it cause i feel its more of a sight thing.

Super video! I applauded for $2.00 👏

Bass are a lot like men, we too use vision to aquire a target within our lateral lines. Then we will move in to try to hit it 🐎. Likewise a bad scent will trigger our survival instinct and we will just as easily break contact and get out of dodge if that smell is off 🦨