While its quite hard to imagine being able to determine smells while underwater, it's the exact opposite for the creatures that call the underwater world their homes.

Scientists have been studying the olfactory senses of fish for years now. Can fish smell under water? Well with the many discoveries that have been made through the years it has become quite evident that fish can detect smells underwater.

In fact, their sense of smell is quite superior to ours and it has even been compared to that of dogs. This would certainly account for the introduction over the past few years of new lures in which some sort of attractants/scents have been impreganated directly into the baits.

The scientists at the berkley fishing plants for instance, have become aware of the fact that fish and bass in general have an accute sense of smell, compelling them to produce a fine line of quality bass catching lures that incorporate such attractants.

Tests show that the bass can detect these attractants when other adverse sensory conditions like poor visibility prevail. Testing also shows that fish will hold onto the scented bait for longer periods of time than a bait not treated with any sort of attractants.

I have conducted my own tests on this topic using lures with scents and lures without scents.

After many trials, I have concluded that bass are more apt to grab a lure with some sort of scent on it and actually hold on to it longer then those exact same lures that were not treated with a scent. This is most prevalent during times of adverse weather conditions and when the bite is tough like "blue bird" days and clear water conditions.

The following is a more discriptive account of my actual findings with the lures used and techniques:

1) 3-8 inch rubber minnow baits - the use of shad flavored scents allowed for more bass to be caught on a ratio of 6 -1 compared to lures of the same color, weight, and size which had no scent applied. The fish were caught from a lake in upstate ny during june, july, august. The water is considered clear and weedy in most parts.

2) 4-9 inch rubber worms - while a few different colors of worms were used, the results were the same as far as specific colors. For argument sake, lets assume the color of worm is black. While the shad flavored scents worked quite well on the rubber minnow baits, the bass in the same lake didnt seem to hold a preference for a scented or non scented worm. The larger the worm, the less the scent had to do with bass catch ratio. In my opinion the versatile rubber worm is just as good with a scent as it is without a scent.

This being said, its also safe to say that in dirty or muddy water the use of a good scent on a rubber worm will only enhance the fish catching ability. I think for the most part, a bass keys in on the movement of a rubber worm prompting it to eat it, but in muddy water where visibilty is impaired, the use of a scent will greatly increase the catch ratio on worms.

Keep in mind that most plastic and rubber baits do not produce that much vibration which makes them more of a visibility bait. Adding scent will give the fish another way to key on it when visibility is reduced.

3) pork trailers for jigs - I like to refer to the trailers as just that,TRAILERS. Again for argumental reasons, and because of the various differences in trailers, we will use a black rubber claw type trailer on a jig for our reference.

I found that crawfish scented products out produced garlic, shad and worm flavored scents on jig and craw patterns. Once again, the bass absolutley held the lure combo longer on the scented lures as did the bass on the unscented lures.

The ratio was actually higher then the minnow type baits, yielding a 10-1 ratio. A bass normally does not hit a jig and trailer lure hard, making hook up ratio much more difficult then those of reaction type lures. Having the crawfish scent on the jig and trailer allowed for more hook ups then misses as was the case with the unscented lures.

4) spinnerbaits - while these lures are classified as reaction type lures, I did find that a scent which omitted a trail behind it was more sucessful than those of which left no trail. I found that the bass actually followed the scent trail then struck the lure at or near the boat with many of the fish turning away. Immediately I would cast a non scented spinnerbait and not see any fish follow it at all.

While this sounds like coincidence, I would respray the 1st spinnerbait recast it and once again have the fish hit it, miss it, or follow it to the boat or near the boat. While not enough fish were actually caught during this test using the spinnerbait to warrant any ratio, it was my determination that when and while the scented spinnerbait was used, it actually got the attention of the bass, where the unscented spinnerbait got little or no results.

(Note: try to use a scent which contains oils of the shad fish. This causes a trail which can be seen by the naked eye and will appear as a blueish color like an oil spill on water)

5) hard stick baits - while there are some thick gluey type attractants out there, most attractants will wear off fairly quick on a jerk jerk jerk pause pattern typically used on hard stick baits. I rarely used these lures in the testings and for the most part, believe these lures work fine without the use of any scents. They are reaction type lures and normally the fish will hit them out of anger or hunger. Otherwise, you should be using a different lure all together.

6) crankbaits - similar to hard stick baits, the retrieve speeds of crankbaits make it difficult to keep any type of scent on them. I did however catch a few with scents sprayed on them and none with the unscented lures.

Conclusions:

While my findings above may or may not be scientific proof that bass relate to scented baits more or less, my results for some lures that were scented out scored the same lures that were not scented. In adverse conditions or times when the bite is tough, if you have some quality scent with you, use it.

It makes good sense to use your scents.

Mike Panek

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