The Scent Factor

Do you want to catch more bass?  Well, scents can play a big part in you landing more fish, especially in crunch time situations.  I know, I know, there are two groups of people reading this right now.  One group is saying, "yeah man, put some of that smelly jelly on your worm and you will catch more fish," and the other group is saying, "no way, that stuff is hog-wash, just a scam to get you to spend more money, scents don't help."  Well, the later group is correct, sometimes, but the first group is correct all the time.

What the heck am I saying?  How can both groups be right?  Well, there are days, when you are bass fishing, that you can catch a fish on practically every cast.  And on those days, you don't need scent.  It wont help you catch any more fish.  That is true.  But it is the other days, most days, when the first group is right.

There are two halves to the scent factor.  Negative scents and positive scents.  It is pretty self explanatory, negative scents are smells that you want to keep off of the bait, whereas positive scents are scents that add to the lures effectiveness.  Negative scents are things like gasoline, sunscreen, or human smells.  These repel bass from biting, and can cost you fish.  Positive scents are those that you can add to your lure to attract the fish--things like anise, garlic, or baitfish scents.  I am no scientist, so I am not sure if the bass are actually attracted to these scents, or if these scents just help to further cover up the negative smells, but I do know that they work for me.

The key with negative scents is to keep them off your lure and line. Start by taking a shower (I know several fishermen who tend to forget that step), and don't use soaps with strong smells to them. Try and use scent free soap.  The second step in this process is to bring something to wash your hands with while you are out on the water.  There are a few options here, but I would suggest some type of hunting soap that removes odors.  You could also bring along an anise soap that will help to remove the natural oils on the surface of your hands, and cover up any other smell with the scent of anise.  (Here is a link to an anise soap if you are interested:  http://www.dayspabodybasics.com/products/Hunting-%26-Fishing-Soap.html).  I would always recommend getting a soap that is not going to pollute or damage the water you are fishing in any way.

Wash your hands before you retie, every time.  This will help to keep your human scent, or any other negative scents that might be on your hands, from getting on your line and lure.  It will help you from repelling fish away from your lures, and can lead to a few more catches.  Any fisherman knows that there are some days where every single bite matters.

The second half of the scent factor is positive scent, or the addition of fish attracting smells.  This half generates a lot of debate among anglers.  Some anglers never use scents and think they are a waste of money, while others never cast their line without it.  I am in the later.  Even if it adding scent doesn't help you catch more bass that day, it definitely doesn't hurt.  



BioEdge Wand and Potion

I use a company called BioEdge for all my scent application now.  There is no doubt in my mind that their scents have helped me to catch more fish in crucial situations.  They make a wide variety of scents in two different forms.  I will talk about these as I get further into this article.  Each BioEdge product is 100% natural, and contain oils, amino acids, enzymes, and pheromones, found in the bait from which they were extracted.

There are days that I have been fishing the exact same lures, with the exact same presentation, as someone else in the same boat or area, and have caught well over a limit of bass while they where skunked.  The only difference was that I was using scent, and they were not.  There have also been days that I couldn't get a bite to save my life, then I suddenly remember , "oh yeah, I forgot to add scent."  I add some to my lure, and a couple casts later...fish on.  I am not a biologist, and I have never studied how bass react to scents, but I can say that I do catch more fish when I add scents than when I don't.

I add scents to my lures in two different ways.  First is my soaking stage, where whenever I get a new package of soft plastics, I add a few drops of the BioEdge Potion scent to the bag and let the worms soak in it.  I try and match the scent that I add to what I am going to try and imitate with that soft plastic.  Basically, if it is a soft plastic that I will be using to imitate a crawfish, I will add a few drops of the BioEdge crayfish potion.  I typically use three different scents for this, Crayfish, Shad, and Sunfish.  Depending on where I am fishing, I sometimes use, Tilapia, Shiner, or Minnow, as well.

The second stage is adding scent to the lure while I am on the water.  For this I use a BioEdge Wand that matches to the prey I am attempting to imitate. The wands are amazing.  I add them to everything--soft plastics, jigs, crankbaits, topwaters, anything I am using.  The wand is a stick, that is about the consistency of chap-stick, that you can apply directly to your lure and it will stay on for more than a few casts.  If you are fishing open water, you probably only need to re-apply the scent about every 20 minutes.  If you are fishing through thick grass, you might want to apply it every 10 minutes or so.  I use the same scents in the wand formula as I do with the potions.

Even though most anglers think of crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and sometimes even topwater lures, as reaction baits, adding some scent want to them can help catch more bass, especially on slow days.  When you pause during your retrieve of a crankbait or spinnerbait, the scent gives the bass just one more reason to smash your lure.  When throwing a topwater popper, I often let my lure sit in one spot on top of the water for 30 seconds to a minute (sometimes more) at a time.  If you have a BioEdge scent wand swiped onto your lure, the scent will slowly disperse into the water, attracting more bass to your lure and enticing them to strike.

Beyond attracting bass, adding scents help bass to hang onto your lure for a little bit longer.  I talked about this a little in the article, Increasing Your Jig Fishing Hook Up Ratio - Tips, Tweaks, and Techniques. But basically, scents don't only provide smell.  Natural scents, such as BioEdge, also provide some taste for the bass.  If your lure tastes like plastic, the bass will probably spit it almost instantly, however, if it tastes like baitfish, then the bass will hang on for a few seconds longer--thus ensuring that you have time to detect the bite and set the hook.

The one thing that you will want to be careful of is keeping the wands in the heat.  If you leave them in your truck on a hot Texas Summer day, the wand will melt and get on everything.  I only made this mistake once, and I quickly learned my lesson.  I keep all my scent wands in a box in my house, and select the ones that I will use that day, put them in my "scent box" and bring in along with me, just as I would any other tackle box.  I make sure to take the scent box out of my truck as soon as I get home.  If you do that, you won't have a problem with them melting in your truck.

But, to wrap everything up, remember that the scent factor has two halves.  Negative scents and positive scents.  Be sure to keep negative scents off your baits and add positive scents to them.  I can't scientifically prove that adding scents to your bait will help you catch more fish, but I can tell you from experience that they will.  Even if the scent does nothing, it doesn't hurt, and it gives me the confidence to fish hard and concentrate, leading to me catching more bass.  So if you don't pay attention to scents when you fish...you should.

Related Articles:
How to Choose Your Crankbait Color Pattern
Swimbaits in the Grass
Shallow Water Crankbait Fishing