Techniques For Scenting

[mainbutter]

So there are probably plenty of products and plenty of techniques for scenting soft plastics.

I was just wondering what you guys do.

I really only scent my stickbaits and craws. I've got lurecraft's crawfish scent, and I basically just add a few drops to each bag of baits, roll the baits around in it to get a coat, and call it good.

Does anyone scent their more 'active' soft plastics, such as grubs, jerkbaits, and swimbaits?

I've been pondering about how to go about scenting my baits with a more intensive soak, such as throwing them in a big jar of scent for an extended soak before bagging. The only drawback to this is the amount of scent required could get pricey, and since I don't do this for commercial purposes I might either have to find a way to make my own scent or just give up on this idea.

Do any of you who fish your own baits fish both scented and non-scented versions, just to see if the scent actually does anything for your catch ratios? I'm going to give it a go this weekend for the northern pike opener and see if they care at all. My prediction is that the pike won't give a darn, but once bass opener rolls around I'll give them a test too, and I think that both the smallies and largies will have something different to say on the matter.

I just wanted your thoughts

[Piscivorous Pike]

Pike do care, with the right scent, they have incredible amount of sensory organs, they got to be there for a reason! Pike respond best to pheromones of wounded bait fish than they do to say fish oil scents. They do track well on fish oil scents however.

It has been demonstrated that forage fish, bait fish, especially those that school when injured or shocked will release pheromones in the water that are to alert others of their species of danger.

Pike can que in on this very well. I am not really aware of any of those being available for retail market. Those that may use it, maybe Berkley and others with a lot of research capability are not specifically saying much about the addition of pheromones as it is the key to many "secret formulas".

Pike are aggresive when feeding in pre-summer conditions as long as the cold fronts hold off!

I have my own special jerk bait 9 inches long and here it is hot pink for the color, got a 4# today, a slow day. Although over the last year this lure has proved itself I have seen many pike spit it after taking it into the mouths and getting a taste of the plastic. I don't usually scent my lures. But after seeing that too many times I have been spraying and soaking if I have time all soft lures with a fish oil type of scent. Cant hurt, dont really know it it works.

I just spent the last 10-12 days in rain, snow, high winds and front after front on this NW MT pike hunt. Week before I arrives a 29# was taken in a near Urban type lake usually fished for Perch. I hooked up one 13# but got to horsey with it and lost it. (I know it would be 13# as that is the year class average for that body of H2O!)

Good luck to you my fellow pike fanatic.

Edited May 13, 2010 by Piscivorous Pike

[GB GONE]

I scent all my plastics while cooking and then after I bag them. Honestly though, I think it is mostly bunk when talking bass.

Maybe it may make a difference at some point on one fish or another however I spend A LOT of time fishing on the lakes, rivers and ponds in GA, FL, WI, NC, etc and I have yet to incite a feeding frenzy with scented soft plastics.

In my experience, whether tournament fishing or just casting from the bank, the fish react to the un-natural presence of the soft plastic bait, not really how is smells or even what color it is. Especially if I am flipping with a 1 1/4" weight in a bunch of slop. The bait goes by so fast on the fall that the fish just reacts and eats. They definitely don't take time to sniff the bait before eating. Same goes with a soft plastic frog tracking across the top of the water.

I like to put scent in my plastics though just to hide the plastic smell you get with most production baits out there.

Just my thoughts and personal experiences...

Jim

[Acuna]

I scent all my plastics while cooking and then after I bag them. Honestly though, I think it is mostly bunk when talking bass.

Maybe it may make a difference at some point on one fish or another however I spend A LOT of time fishing on the lakes, rivers and ponds in GA, FL, WI, NC, etc and I have yet to incite a feeding frenzy with scented soft plastics.

In my experience, whether tournament fishing or just casting from the bank, the fish react to the un-natural presence of the soft plastic bait, not really how is smells or even what color it is. Especially if I am flipping with a 1 1/4" weight in a bunch of slop. The bait goes by so fast on the fall that the fish just reacts and eats. They definitely don't take time to sniff the bait before eating. Same goes with a soft plastic frog tracking across the top of the water.

I like to put scent in my plastics though just to hide the plastic smell you get with most production baits out there.

Just my thoughts and personal experiences...

Jim

when adding scent to the plastic, how concentrated do you make it? How many drops?

[MuskyGary]

The main reason I use scent is to cover up the human smell from handling the bait. I only put scent in the bags after I pour the bait. Adding scent tp the hot plastic before you pour couldn't hurt, but I feel it is overkill. Try it both ways and see if there is a different amount of hits on the bait.

[FishingBuds]

I scent up just to cover the plastic smell also and think its needed IMHO. I have not seen a catch ratio difference at all yet on strength of scent. I tried 4 drops on 5 shad/minnows versus 20 drops on another bag of shad/minnows, I actually caught two less fish on the 20 drop bag, so it was two fish caught on 4 drops verses no fish caught on 20 drops same colors

I would really love to try out other scent ideas tho, something out of the box besides pork fat, maybe oil based cocoa bean, or vanilla extract or some wangy salad dressing of course it all needs to be oil based

[Bros Plastics]

What i believe is that there is a certain time to use sent, of course you can use it all the time but i feel there is no need for it during a reaction type period, like flipping or swimming ect.... Do you use sent on your crank baits? Now in the winter time or middle of summer when the fish are deep and slugish i like to use a sent on my baits. When i sell my baits they are sent free as with my experience everyone likes different sents so they can just use whatever they like if they feel the need. When i do use sent i cook it in (4 drops per 6oz) and also i just add a few drops into the bag. Also think about power bait or yum F.T.P. they cook there sents into the bait and i do think there sents do produce more bites than without. JMO