I have recently read several articles about a fish’s sense of smell. They suggest that if you are a smoker (and I am) or have a certain body chemistry that the smell will transfer to the fly and may cause a fish to refuse it. Does anyone have experience with this? Are there any scent masking solutions like those for hunters? Has anyone ever used a scent attractor on a fly?
I remember reading a carp article where this guy mentioned he rubbed his flies on grass or dirt to give them this “natural” scent. I haven’t tried it but it might work.
I don’t think a lot of fly anglers will agree with using anything on their flies.
A while ago I bought this metal fish you wash your hands with and it eliminates odors, I’m not sure if it works because I used it after fishing to get rid of the fishy smell. I wash my hands before tying flies and try not to put any or them or my leaders in my mouth.
Seems like scent on a fly might make bait.
Legally, AK looks at scent as bait. It is not legal in FF only waters.
Dump a couple fish overboard in the Kodiak harbor and you will soon be visited by a Steller’s Sea Lion and he will go straight to the fish and do lunch with you… If they can smell that incredibly well underwater you have to know the fishes are better…
i used to smoke and the stench was apparent in all of my tying materials. i dont know if it affected the catch vs refusal ratio.
scent on flies = bait
Years ago my father & I were bait fishing for trout using the infamous power bait. I was doing OK and he was doing nothing. We finally determined his problem was that the scent from his suntan lotion was getting on the bait which turned off the fish. Another time I was fishing for crappie with a couple of fellows in a boat when my outboard needed work. I got the smell of gas & oil on my hand and that turned the crappie off while the other guys were still catching fish.
Use of scent on flies is legal in Oregon. I have tried scent in gel form when fishing for crappie & perch. I can’t say it helped but it sure didn’t hurt.
Tim
I smoke cigars when I fish, drink whiskey, occasionally use sunscreen, often apply fly floatant and pack all of my natural fly tying materials in moth crystals.
I catch a LOT of fish and don’t use any scent masking stuff.
I know fish can smell and all of that stuff, but I wouldn’t worry about it. Fish ain’t that clever.
Never worried about it.
You could try WD-40? People use it on their lures as an attractant. Especially the saltwater folks. A little on a rag and wipe your hands with it at the car would probably work. Not sure if it would last though?
On a nice spring day some years ago, I was fishing the Monomoy flats off Cape Cod when nature came to call
As I was about 3/4 of a mile off shore at the time, my choices were limited.
(fast forward…:rolleyes:)
When I was done juggling with the vest, waders, stripping basket, and rod, I looked up just in time to see a school of 5 or 6 fish swimming into the current following my ‘scent’.
Were they attracted to the smell or simply curious ?
Don’t know.
What I do know is that now when nature calls, I rush to get myself ready to cast ASAP
It’s worked more than once.
:shock:
Dudley,
Maybe the fish were just used to worm dunkers:)
Jim Smith
I too am an EX-SMOKER but I got to say, my catch rate has gone down.
I use to have a cigarette in hand or mouth while fishing (had a baggy for the butts) and like mentioned, ALL my gear smelt of old stinky smoke, but I caught fish and allot of them.
It has been almost 5 months that I have quit, washed all my gear, and it does seem my catch rate has gone down.
It could be that this is a difficult year with the water STILL being high, run off being later and longer, and the fact everyone’s catch rate is down, but I do miss that cigarette at times LOL.
I DO believe it is 99% confidence, and that might have gone down with the cigarettes. Something I have to re-program myself for, cause I am never going to smoke again!
As far as rubbing in the mud, I still do that. Great way to get a fly to sink faster…then it washes away.
I do agree: SCENT MAKES BAIT.
These post come up from time to time and I always find them interesting. In some states, it is a legal issue. Even in the states where it became a law it was prompted by a belief that “you are somehow cheating if you use scent” or it isn’t fair chase. I get the vibe that it is about “my way is the right way and you SHOULD do it MY way”.
Personally, I don’t mind people that spin fish, bait fish or any other kind of legally fishing. I find that sportsman are much closer to “My Way” of thinking than the peta crowd. I’m think that fisherman should stick together against the anti’s. There are those that would outlaw worm dunkers on the premis that it harms the worm. I don’t choose to fish with worms and prefer to fish with flies that I make, but I try not to look down my nose at those that do things legally but differently than I except if you want to outlaw my passion like the peta people and the other radicals.
Does scent help you catch fish. It probably does, but reading water, presentation and many other factors are probably a bigger factor. I would dare say that fishing with the new high tech lines offers more of an advantage to fly fisherman than adding the latest scent product does to a fly. Fishing with reels with high tech drag systems allow us to catch more fish too. Sometimes I feel like it is a jealously thing. “That guy might catch a fish more than me if I let him do this”.
The IGFA (International Game Fish Association) won’t recognize a new fly fishing record if you used scent on your fly, so if you are after that record book be advised. If you want to catch a couple of fish for yourself and you want to squirt some of Dr. Fish special juice on it, what’s the difference between that and rubbing mud or spitting tabacco on your fly. You are still trying to do one thing, increase your catch. I don’t think anyone should use synthetic materials when they tie flies (I’m kidding). It’s all about where you draw a line in the sand. I have no issues if you don’t want to use scent for yourself, but when you tell others what they should or should not do, that is when it gets interesting.
Rick
Rick
I agree in many parts of your post, but the only part I care about is the legal aspect of scent as bait in FF only waters. The judgemental stuff about gear-group bashing I agree on completely…
art
Scent and bait are two different topics.
Plain and simple 'Bait' uses food: live or dead. Albeit live (bait)fish/crawdads etc, cut up fish/chum etc., worms or dead insects(i.e. crickets). Artificial bait just uses artificial food (dare I say something artificial representing something real? Sounds like a definition of any imitator fly pattern to me). Fishing Flies are artificial food to the fish are they not? Artificial flies = artificial bait.
Bait/flies/lures are ALL the same thing. Something on a hook/line used to catch fish. The rest is all semantics!
Someone insisting a fly angler, or even worse a ‘true or real’ fly angler does NOT use bait or lures, pretty much defines that “Snob” everyone insists they are not. And a fly angler without a ‘lure’ is a fly angler with NOTHING on the end of the tippet.
Now for ‘Scent’:
If you scent flies (and I’ve yet to see ANY product marketed for such a thing) you’re attempting to do what, cover something up? Something like:
-Scent from chemicals from tanning/dyeing processing of the tying materials.
-Scent from insecticides on processed materials and skin oil/sweat/nicotine and anything else on the hands of the people packaging the materials for distribution.
-Scent from head cement, fleximent, epoxy, goop, paint/lacquer, skin oil/sweat/nicotine and anything else on your hands at the tying bench.
-Scent from floatants/desiccants/gink/wetting agents, line cleaners/dressings/conditions/knot sealers, sunscreen, Deet products, skin oil/sweat/nicotine and anything else on your hands at stream side. Seems like a fly scent-cover up/scent-neutralizer product would be well received among fly anglers.
Does anyone carry hand sanitizer with them? All those have some kind of fragrance added to them.
If you don?t carry/use hand sanitizer think of all the possible chemicals listed above your hands come in contact with before you pull out that sandwich on the bank for lunch.
Scenting your flies does NOT make them bait. It just makes them more scented (or preferably de-scented) flies. And if they ARE scented, what are they scented with??? Finding a ‘Fly Scent’ product is like finding a definition for Biot. There’s nothing out there!
Now let?s get back to some relevant fly fishing/fly tying topics.
O boy, Bass_Bug…can’t wait to see the responses you get to that 
Coughlin
c’mon everybody knows that “Biot isthe short leading edge of a wing feather quill, used in fly-tying.”
I’m brand new to the sport and even newer to the site, but in reading everything I can get my hands or web browser on about the sport, I’ve seen this topic come up somewhat often. I don’t know if a beginner’s perspective on what’s being written about it today might help, but here goes:
The way I understand it is that while fish have a great sense of smell, they rely far more on vision and vibrations in the water when deciding what to do when presented with a fly. Bad casts, too many false casts over the water, clumsy wading, a fly with a strange shape or the wrong action for that type of fly all stand a much higher chance of turning a fish off than a scent.
I don’t know how you’d rate the weight of smell as a percentage of their decision to take the fly or not, but my instinct given the above is to say it’s low.
The only “universal” exception to this I’m seeing is bug spray, which also can do nasty things to your fly line. I haven’t been able to figure out if it’s just the sprays that use deet, or if this advice applies to other compounds as well.
It’s actually funny, too, because a lot of the writers admonishing against the use of bug spray go right on to mention that with a pipe, cigar or cigarette in their mouth, the bugs don’t bother them. I have to assume that these folks are still catching fish. I hope they’re not wrong because I’d much prefer not to have to leave my corncob at home.
My feeling on is somewhat what CLAY is saying. A fly is a lure…BAIT? No
Bait is bait. Bugs or a goop to taste like bugs or garlic or licorice whatever.
When you say SCENT ON A FLY, I do feel it is not right. it defeats the purpose of FLIES. No rules, just calling it what it is. Like maybe choosing to drive a car backwards. It achieves the same thing, just isn’t right.
TO ME Scent on a fly is a deliberate addition because maybe you lack at presentation or the right fly choice. By scent, I think of GARLIC, WD40, ANISE OIL, etc. Not everyday things that we do have on our hands. The practice of putting bug repellent or tanning lotion is to wash your hands as well as you can in the water. Sure some is still there, but I would like to think it floats away.
Or as said much earlier by a very wise man…I don’t think fish are that smart.
Lastly, I didn’t see this post putting down other choices of fishing, but
“Is it cool to put some extra, outside, velveta type, stink on a fly?”
My answer is NO not cool, and that is BAIT.8-)
Norm,
Is that why they don’t bother putting that in any dictionary? Because everyone already knows it? :roll:
Once upon a time I tried a bottle of Uncle Boudreaux’s Crayfish Lure and Etouffe’ Sauce. I went caught nothing in several hours of of hard fishing. I keep meaning to write it up and sent it in. It wasn’t really my fault, you see Dave Hatch posed this question…
Ed