I personally have no problem with fish attractants.
However, this statement from Bob Boese’s article “Fish Perfume” is NOT correct in Colorado!!!
Wive’s Tale #4: Using fish attractant is illegal. Simply false, even on the most restrictive gold medal fly fish only catch-and-release waters, no prohibition against attractant on flies has been found.
Not false at all!
Fishing a scented fly here in Colorado “Flies and Lures Only” water will get you a ticket and points on your license. From the Colorado regs, 2008-2009:
ARTIFICIAL FLIES AND LURES: Devices made entirely of or combination of natural or synthetic, nonedible, nonscented (regardless if scent is added during the manufacturing process or applied after) materials such as wood, plastic, silicone, rubber, epoxy, glass, hair, metal, feathers or fiber, designed to attract fish. This does not include anything defined as bait below.
BAIT: Hand-moldable material designed to attract fish by taste or smell. Devices with scents or smell attractants added or externally applied, regardless if added during manufacturing or after. Scented manufactured fish eggs and traditional organic baits, including but not limited to worms, grubs, crickets, leeches, minnows, dough baits, stink baits, insects, crayfish, human food, fish, fish parts or fish eggs.
If’n your flies are scented, here in Coloraddy yer fishin’ BAIT.
DANBOB
My son lives in Colorado and fishes mostly Bass spinning. He has to make a special effort to have a separate tackle box with unscented lures. If the tackle box or boat (In specific fishing locations) even contain any scented lure - even salted plastic worms they can be ticketed!
I don’t have a clue whether or not it’s kosher to use scents in Colorado. That being said, I always thought it as kind of a no-no for a fly fisher to add scent to his/her fly? I’ve never done it and don’t ever plan to.
I just recently put some “Power bait” balls in with my egg patterns to get the scent on them. I caught less fish after doing so than I did before without the ‘perfume’.
Did it as an experiment. I would say I’m less likely to do so.
HOWEVER, you will pry the scented bass Senkos out of my dead hands…
I believe you would be in violation of the rules in Washington also if you used an attractant in fly fishing only waters.
From the WDFW rules and regulations:
FLY FISHING ONLY
In ?Fly Fishing Only? waters, an angler may
use only the following tackle: up to 2 flies,
each with a barbless single-point hook, not
to exceed ." from point to shank, and a
conventional fly line (other line may be used
for backing or leader if attached to at least
25 feet of fly line). Anglers may not use fixed
spool reels, bait, or weight attached to the
leader or line. Only knotless nets may be
used to land fish.
BAIT
Anything that attracts fish or shellfish by scent
and/or flavor. This includes any device made
of feathers, hair, fiber, wood, metal, glass,
cork, leather, rubber, or plastic, which uses
scent and/or flavoring to attract fish or wildlife.
I’m sorry, but, I know that what I am about to say will upset some, but, I cannot hold back any longer.
I consider fly fishing and fly tying an art. It does not say much for my fly tying skills if my flies have to have some sort of attractant applied to them in order to catch trout or any other fish species. If I am going to use scent I may as well go back to the spinning rod/casting rod way of fishing and join the crowded “rat” race again.
I fish with a fly rod because the “long” rod brings the enjoyment back to my fishing. I fish the fly rod because I need the peace and quiet of the river and the surroundings. I need and enjoy the trees, flowers, the sound of flowing water, the river animals and critters, the fresh air and the feeling that I am closer to my Maker while fly fishing. I enjoy the challenge of tying flies and the challenge of fooling the fish with them.
I am sorry for the ramble. To use any scents with fly fishing just puts fly fishing on the same playing field as all the other forms of fishing. There is nothing wrong with the other forms of fishing, but, most of the time the other forms are done to either put fish on the table or to win a tournament and that is not fly fishing. Unless you are a fly fisherman, you will never understand what I am saying. Fly fishing and fly tying are not usually done to win tournaments and put food on the table. They are done to “get away” from the world and the people in it for awhile. They provide you with some time for yourself. As a fly fisherman, I do not have to always catch fish to enjoy the sport. I guess I enjoy the spirit of fly fishing and tying as well as the catching.
Sorry, but, when you put fish scents and fly fishing together it just does not set well with me nor does it seem right.
The above are only my opinions and nothing more. I apologize to anyone who may have been offended by my opinions. Now I will go crawl back into my corner and leave you all alone…
I know what you mean and agree to an extent. But I carry a spinning rod with me when I float my kayak. Nothing wrong with spinning rod users. Sometimes it’s harder to catch trout on spin tackle than flies!!! If you think about it flies are almost like cheating. Of course I don’t use the spin rod in “trophy” designated areas, although I could…as here they only state “barbless single hooks, artificial”. Roostertail now makes a single-hook spinner. Just bend the barb down. Or set it up to where you can cast a fly.
To me designating an area “flyrod only” is discriminatory.
I figured it was appropriate to cite the law, rather than claim it exists…
"artificial fly means a fly which is constructed by common methods known as fly tying, including a dry fly, wet fly, and nymph, which is free of bait as defined below. Materials and chemicals designed and produced primarily to cause flies to float or sink may be used on artificial flies.
artificial fly (unweighted) means a fly which weighs less than one-fourth ounce in its entirety.
artificial lure means a lure that is manmade, free of bait as defined below, and is used to attract fish for the purpose of taking them, and includes artificial flies.
bait means any substance applied to fishing gear for the purpose of attracting fish by scent, including fish eggs in any form, natural or preserved animal, fish, fish oil, shellfish, or insect parts, natural or processed vegetable matter, and natural or synthetic chemicals."
Well it just goes to show you why it is important to keep up to date and follow the regs in the rule books. They clearly are different from state to state.
Whether or not you agree with the rules is a different story.
It’s very interesting reading these posts. If it is illegal in your area - don’t do it. If it is not illegal then it is still up to the individual. Please don’t think that “your way” is “thee way”. The United States is made up of individuals and most of us believe in free choice. I would sure like to know who wrote the rules that a certain weight fly is OK but if it is over a certain wt it is a fly of the devil and should be illegal. I find some of the rules absolutely funny. Most of these things are us vs. them arguments that all revolve around “my way is the absolutely right way” and if you do something different that I do you are “totally wrong”.
If it is illegal I won’t do it, but if it is not, the choice is up to the fisherman. Peer pressure to do something is a strange force. Being social creatures we all want to fit in. I love studding the social interactions in a group.
I would consider using scent after reading the article, but I don’t have a strong feeling about it one way or another.
Let’s start this one instead. Anyone who ties any flies with anything but horse hair and feathers is cheating. No synthetics should be allowed, those guys are not doing it in the spirit of the original way. And your new reel with a good disc drag should not be legal on my river and forget that new fangled line with the fancy coating, stop using fluorocarbon leaders will ya. Stand back for a minute and things might look a little different to you.
Have fun fishing boys, no matter how you choose to do it, because fisherman are in agreement with each other more than they would agree with any animal rights person that is trying to stop fishing all together. The in fighting is unnecessary.
From what I have learned over the years is that probably garlic is the one best flavor to use, anyway you might dream up to do so. The exception would be fishing a wet fly to stockers, then a shrimp flavor, of course, would be best.
“Except for artificial flies and streamers, a person may not use or possess any natural bait, bait fish, fish bait, scents or natural or synthetic devices capable of catching fish.”
There is nothing wrong with using scent on a fly. The idea is to fool a fish into thinking the fly is real. One of a fishes biggest assets is their sense of smell. It is just one more criteria fish use to determine what to attack. And it does nothing to diminish the fly fishing experience, at least for me. I protest any regulation that tells me how I have to fish (within reason), as long as I follow the creel limits. 8 fish per day is 8 dead fish, whether I caught them on a fly rod, cane pole, trot line, a cast net, or shot them with a bow and arrow. Ecologically, it makes no difference. None of these methods hurt the environment any more than fly fishing does. It’s simply harvesting 8 fish, which the law allows. The method you use should be up to you, as long as it’s reasonable (dynamite, for instance, is not reasonable because you can’t control the number of fish you kill with it, can endager others, and makes holes in things…likewise shooting them with firearms…)
Sometimes I do fly fish to ‘get away from it all’, but sometimes I do it to ‘put food on the table’ (there is nothing like fresh fish for supper). I personally hate tournaments, but if that’s your thing, then you have my blessings.
I have to agree that "FLY FISHING ONLY’ spots are discriminatory, and maybe not even legal. Spin fishermen, bait-casters and even cane-pole fishers pay their license money same as everyone else, and have the right to use the same water. If they ever designated a piece of water for BAIT-FISHING ONLY, you would hear anglers screaming from now until Doomsday.
Can’t we all just get along. The earth is made up of 75% water. Surely that’s enough room for everybody.
It’s a management tool. It’s the easiest way to enforce catch and release, if you’re trying to build a self sustaining population.
It opens up fishing areas to the public that wouldn’t be opened otherwise. Many land owners will allow fly fishing on their property and not bait fishing because the fly fishers don’t tend to leave trash. (Especially bait containers and beer cans.)
Don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against either bait fishing or put and take – where practical.
As far as license fees, you could make the other argument – why should I, who seldom keeps a fish (I can’t say never), have to subsidize an expensive stocking program to keep fish in the river, when limited harvest rules will accomplish the same thing for free? It costs about $2 to put a catchable size rainbow in a stream (a tad more for browns.) In my state, it costs about $5 for a trout stamp. There are few self sustaining populations of rainbow here, and those are largely in catch & release water. Do the math – anyone who keeps more than two rainbows a year is being subsidized by those who don’t keep fish.
As you say, there’s plenty of water, and room for both management practices.
