Can Adding a Scent Enhance Your Fishing Experience?
Every fisherman is always looking for an advantage when out on the water, but could smell really be a realistic one?
One of the bigger topics of conversation over fishing lately has been can the use of smell really give you an advantage when fishing. This sense has the ability to help you out of the water when hunting other kinds of animals, but fish are a different story with water being a factor.
If you have been curious about this method, we have some answers once and for all.
How Scents Work for Fish
One of the keys to successful fishing is learning what will get the fish to bit and what won't. Believe it or not, bass can pick up scents in the same fashion we do as humans, but their sense of smell is through an entirely different organ in the body that brings it in with the water when they breathe.
Many scientific studies have shown that a fish's ability to smell is potentially 1,000 times stronger than that of a dog's. With this ability, it is not wonder than they can easily pick up and track scents under the water.
What Type of Fish Go For Scents
If you are using scents to reel in more fish, the most common kind you will find that are attracted to it are bass. Bass can smell a scent by taking in water through two different nostrils in their nose, an anterior nostril and a posterior nostril. As the water flows in through the anterior nostril and passes through the olfactory nerve and flows back out the posterior nostril.
Bass go after bait through sight and sound first and foremost. As they begin to approach bait however, the scent is the final sense that they focus on before making their final attack. If the scent of the bait is appealing to them, there is a very likely chance that they will go for it and bite the hook. If you are fishing in murkier waters, your chances are even better as the sense of sight is disabled and they will rely on their sense of smell even more.
Types of Scents That Attract Fish
So if you are going to use scents when catching fish, how do you know which kind to use? One of the more common kinds that dates back several decades now is a type of jelly that you can place on the bait.
Other popular scents will resemble their typical prey, such as a tastier owner yuki bug, a small toad scented bait, and other common bugs that they will usually feast on.
You can also try a cheese scented bait that targets salmon, steelhead and trout or a Coffee Tube, which work great on a Texas rig.
If you are going fishing soon, consider trying out scented bait to see if you can take your catching to the next level.
- John Harley