Scents

[WEEZER]

I watched the "In Fisherman" Steelhead Video the other day and they talked about using scents to mask human odor on flies and bait. I was wondering if anybody does this and if so what type of scent? I checked a lot of stores today and couldn't come up with a good trout scent so I was thinking about using some "Fall Blend" on my hands before I rig up and while tying up spawn bags.
BTW the "In fisherman" video was pretty cool! it had some really good information on water temps and locating migratory fish.

[MIBow]

I used to use a product called "Dr. Juice", it came in a trout/salmon flavor. It came in a small squeeze bottle and we used to put a drop or 2 on our flies if we were fishing those, we also used to store our flies in the containers used for spawn bags. That seemed like a good idea to me. I have never seen much difference though, and have not used any special "cover scent" when prepping bait, or fishing in the past few years.

I did read somewhere a few years back about trout/steelhead having a pretty good sense of smell.

[toto]

WEEZER, so your question is scents or non-scents HEHE. Anyway, sugar is always a good one, steelies seem to have a sweet tooth. But the most flagrant foul, is smoking and getting that scent on your spawn. Fish won't touch as well as nonscented spawn. If you have ever smelled really fresh spawn after it is rinsed (in river water) it doesn't have a smell, at least not that I can smell, that is the best. I have been trying, with no success, to catch a fish with spawn bags already tied in their belly, but to no avail. Man wouldn't that be nice?? Use the freshest spawn you can get. The only other thing I have used in mineral oil. Just put a couple of drops in a jar of spawn bags, and it seems to help, it also helps with yarn eggs too.

[WEEZER]

Bill, have you ever seen the picture of the steelie at Pappy's? It had like 20+ spawn sacks in her stomach!
I cure my spawn with salt and sugar and I NEVER catch any steelhead until I break out the flies and/or wax worms! The spawn I just got done tying is on the dry side and it has a faint fish smell(Really faint) so I'm going to put some anise oil in one tube and some of that DR. Juice crap in the other. On Sunday I'm going to experiment(If the river is in good condition after this snowstorm.)

[toto]

20+ spawn bags inside? Man, I wish I could have caught that one, just think how much time it would save for your next outing.

[Big Frank 25]

Found this and thought I'd bring it back up.

Some years ago a friend of mine got to talking about an article that had appeared in one of the outdoor rags. Story spoke of a couple out fishing and not doing well. After a shore lunch of sandwiches the wife had brought along, fishing resumed. She was out fishing him drastically! Made him ask her what she was doing that he was not. Came down to tracing her actions at the lunch where upon she had applied a hand cream.
Story went on to test different things as an attractor. cola, gas, urine and strawberry soda. If memory serves me, cola and gas were bad. Urine and strawberry soda were good. This test was performed at a weir that had dual ladders to check the preference of the fish.

I have used Oil of Olay night cream before by rubbing a little on a lure for walleye. Seems to work! Or at least didn't hurt! Just a little hard to explain to the wife that I was fishing all night when I come home smelling like a "French Whore"!;)

[Lunker]

I had an old schooler tell me preperation H .... I didn't want to know anymore.. hehe. Ive used Bang scents ...shad works great. This last weekend pork chop residue was the hot ticket.

[Ruler]

For those of you who smoke, here's another reason to quit. (That is, if paying lots of money to rot your lungs from the inside out while you're still using them isn't reason enough... ;) ) This supports what Toto stated earlier.

A good buddy of mine who is a good angler quit smoking about 2 years ago. He said that his catch rates doubled about 2-3 months after he quit. He thought that maybe the nicotine was excreted in sweat and the smell was getting on his lures and bait, repelling the fish. When the drug worked it's way out of his system, this scent was no longer added to his offering. I thought it was interesting...

I've seen people spraying WD40 on bait and lures also. Claimed it attracted fish. I saw it make one hell of a mess in the water and not one bit of difference in how many fish they caught. Anything's possible though.

[Lunker]

The best scent I use is free... once you catch one. The first one you catch use the slime off your hands and rub that on your lure. Guaranteed success.
later

[crazydrake]

anise oil , found at health shops, it comes from a plant or seed, smells like Jagermeister no lie.

[goose hunter]

At the pharmacy buy some fishermans oil. a.k.a. anise oil. That is why it got its name. I have had the Ohio fish and game pull me out of the water to find out why I was getting 4 fish to the line of other fishermen's 1. I was the only one that had juiced his twister tails with the anise oil. Oh by the way. It is the good stuff from the drug store not the cheap candy making junk. Expensive, yes but worth every penny. I do add walleye scent at times to the oil. And never have a smoker tie your spawn bags. It does make a big diffrence. We have tried it on purpose to see if it made any diffrence. It did indeed. We got band from a tournament after smoking the others for 3 straight years using the anise oil on our twister tails. 10 fish 74 lb's next best catch 34 lb's for their 10. It was it the Toledo Blade about our use of the scent. Try it you will like it.