Magic Potion

[mathcarver]

A while back someone brought up the subject of using scents or potions to attract fish. I know quite a few were against them. I was talking recently to a very well known fisherman, to some of you, that someone had visited with him and they went fishing on the White River. The host was not doing to well and he called out to guest and asked how he was doing and he was doing very well. They fished a while longer, the host asked the guest again how he was doing and he said he was raking them in. So when fishing trip was over several hours later he asked the guest what bait he was using and he said he was using the same bait as host but he was dipping it in a potion passed down to him from several generations. He told me the guest was using a potion of grape juice and mineral oil. I have heard of several potions but never this one. Have any of you ever heard of this potion and if so, do you know the proportions of grape juice to mineral oil. The guest said he and family had used it on all different types of fish and it had worked well. Maybe this is not the correct place to ask a question of this nature but I know there are a lot of very experienced fisher persons on this forum and if anybody would know someone here would know. Thanks for any help in advance. mathcarver

[Bluegill222]

Nope, never heard of that one.

[Buddy Sanders]

Mathcarver,

I've never heard of anyone using 'grape juice' to create a fishing scent.

That being said, it's not the first use of the grape 'smell' I've seen. There was an old plastic worm brand that made a purple worm that smelled like grape, and I caught lots of bass with it. Can't think of the name, though...(Jelly Worm, maybe?).

If you decide you want to try to 'replicate' this concoction, it won't be hard to do. Remember what you are trying to do with it, i.e; cover or mask any unpleasant odors that may be on your baits. Most commercially available 'scents' have very strong smells....this is because scents dissipate quickly in water, and usually the 'coverage area' is small and the 'coating' is thin (very few lures allow the liquid to 'soak in' or somehow fill a chamber that controls it's release).

This means that to get reasonable results, you'll want the grape juice to be as concentrated as possible, and use only enough mineral oil to get a decent consistency of the mix (how 'thick' you want the concoction is a matter of preference).

You can concentrate the grape juice by heating it and allowing the water to evaporate until you get the concentration you like.

Scents, or more properly 'scent masks' were very popular with the main stream bass fishermen when I was a part of that...I still use a 'scent' on all of my subsurface flies and lures to this day, primarily to cover any bad odors that may be on the materials.

Buddy

[Eric-WD]

Mathcarver,.....


This means that to get reasonable results, you'll want the grape juice to be as concentrated as possible, and use only enough mineral oil to get a decent consistency of the mix (how 'thick' you want the concoction is a matter of preference).......

You can concentrate the grape juice by heating it and allowing the water to evaporate until you get the concentration you like.



Buddy

Buddy good information, adding to it, you can buy concentrated grape juice in the frozen food Isle and not mix it with water. Save you from boiling it down.

Eric

And Buddy I love your signature quote

[coughlin]

Our nation is not great because of democracy. Our nation is great because of our protections from democracy
Great tag, Buddy. that's exactly what John Adams and the boys had in mind.
Coughlin

[Big Bad Wulff]

Grape juice?

Was it a Sunday by any chance

[Gandolf]

Hi All,

As many of you know, such potions are illegal in many fly fishing only areas.

For you who want to try them where legal, understand that mineral oil and grape juice do not dissolve in each other, so such a potion will have two layers. The bottom layer will be the juice and the top layer will be the mineral oil.

You can shake it up thoroughly just before use to make a froth just before use. That way when you dip the fly you will get some of each on the fly.

If the grape juice is highly concentrated, that will help the solubiltiy issues a bit, but you will still be faced with much of the same issue, that you will have two layers in the bottle, not one homogeneous phase.

Regards,

Gandolf

[mnklagoon]

buddy,

Those were Mann's "jelly worms" and they were terrific on largemouth bass. they are still available from Mann's online site at 16.99 per 100 worms! I think Bill Dance used to fish those in the late 1970's .

[Buddy Sanders]

MNK,

I sure caught a lot of fish on them worms...I believe the red ones had a strawberry scent..

As far as the whole 'scent thing' goes, there are pitfalls to their use. I remember when a product called RealCraw came on the market. Supposedly made from real ground up crawfish. It was the hot stuff for many of the bass guys in a large part of the country when it came out. They had an aerosol and a liquid. VERY strong stuff. I mean it was was REALLY strong though.....ate through a lot of boat carpets, fishing pants (some guys were real proud of their fancy duds...jumpsuits with all them patches, etc.)...even ruined some gelcoats with the aerosol 'overspray'. Worked, though. Some guys bought it by the gallon.

I was a true believer as far as scents went when I was involved in the 'main stream' bass fishing world. I added scent to all my soft baits and jigs continually throughout the day...every time I touched the bait, every time a fish touched it, every time I layed it on the boat deck.

Not found it to be needed when trout fishing. Bass are harder to catch, more wary creatures, and a 'bad' scent will put them off quickly. Trout seem to be less likely to care. Either that, or they are so easy to catch that I seldom find myself trying to fine tune things that much .

As far as the legality of using a scent mask on your flies....I know that it's illegal to use an attractant in some areas, so be sure to check.

That being said, I don't ever carry the stuff with me on the water. I use it at the bench to clean and cover any 'bad' stuff that may be on the materials or flies once they are tied but before they go into fly boxes. Once it's dipped and the fly is dried, I can't 'smell' the stuff anymore. So I doubt I'm in any legal jeopardy regardless of where I pitch the flies. (I have checked, though, and in all the waters where I trout fish, it's not an issue).

Buddy

[foambug65]

all the scent recipes should be posted ....cause its almost winter ...an got time..to be the madd scienetist in the kitchen..with wife permisssion ...i ad wd-40 to my floatant....sometimes..but i know it is a unspoken sin...the whole scent thing....but i try new stuff ..an i am no pro i just like to tie an fish an catch so i my self would like to hear the recipes ...it is still fly fishin ..we are not puttin minnows or shad or worms on the #10 dry hookjust alil smell