Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Experimenting With Scent Attractors for Fly Fishing



There were several things going on during my fishing trip Saturday. One was trying to reach my 100 super bluegill quest, during the spawn, two was trying a land a quality Spot, and three was trying out a scent attractor on flies for bluegills and bass. The first goal I didn’t accomplish, because I think most of the big bull bluegill had move into deep water at least 30 to 40 ft. The second goal was missed with only one small largemouth brought to hand using the size 4 Boogle Bug. I discovered right after I launched the boat that the lake was falling contrary to what the report had said. Sometimes one can’t put a lot of trust in the generation schedule for Smith Lake. As most of you know water falling on any body of water can put a damper on the catch ratio. Fish tend to go deep during this period and stay deep until the water level stabilizes. I did manage to land fish but just not the quality bass.

Now for the third goal; I have said I learn something every time I am on the water and today was no exception. I wanted to try a product that claims to entice the bite for bass and bluegill so I had my small little bottle of bass attractant. I only used it on a couple of wooly buggers. I can’t say for sure that the scent attractor work to get more hits, but it seem to add a little more confidence on a slow morning. The attractant didn’t effect the action of the bugger because I didn’t add it to the tail of the fly, just the body. I didn’t try it on any dry fly. I am wondering if any of you guys have experimented with scent attractant on flies.
Sorry awful image but you get the drift with the Boogle deep in the throat the only bass of the morning
All of these guys were caught on a couple of small poppers, and the rest on the wooly bugger. I have to say none will qualify for my quest. They were a lot of fun on the 3 wt. As stated in the post the bass scent attractor was used and I would like to think it help me land more fish on an extremely slow morning-----falling water

22 comments:

  1. Come on now Bill, that is not pure fly fishing!! (At least some would say that.) ;) No just kidding.

    I use the Powerbiat Trout Attractant on almost all of my trout stuff (spin fishing), especially Trout Magnet, I think it adds a little something extra, if you know what I mean! Try it, next time going after stockies!

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  2. Your getting there.
    I've never used attractors, but I have been told of trout and salmon trollers on the big lakes in Maine would put the juice/oil from sardine cans on the streamer flies they trolled.

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  3. Personal feeling is that scent attractors work on fish like the spanish fly works on women.

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  4. Personal feeling is that "scent attractors" for fish work as well as "Spanish fly" works on women:)
    ugh. my wife just asked what spanish fly was

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  5. Interesting...

    I like the confidence comment...maybe that's all we need sometimes, something that will give our confidence a boost, whether it truly matters or not.

    great gills! look mighty tasty.

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  6. Hi Bill
    Years ago I made the mistake of adding scent to one of my fly boxes and all I managed was to create an oily mess of all the hackles. I haven't bothered with it since then but a friend is marketing a product using a small piece of micro fiber attached to the hook bend that you douse with scent. Check it out at http://www.sciencefishing.com/

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  7. Hi Bill. I would think the attractant would work better if you have a stable lake environment. Maybe next time.

    Mark

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  8. I don't know about that Bill. I've had no experience with scents. I'll wait for more responses.

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  9. Howard
    It looks like I have some opinions here. Thanks for the comment

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  10. Mark
    A falling lake is a killer when it comes to fishing. thanks for the comment

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  11. John
    I agree about the oily mess, that is why I don't think any kind of scent attractor would work on dries. thanks for the comment

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  12. Sanders
    Confidence in the main factor in fishing, one has got to believe he is going to land a fish on every cast; weather it happens or not. thanks for the comment

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  13. Hawkfish
    Spainish Fly an interesting comparison with fly fishing???? thanks for the comment

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  14. Alan
    Some fisherman swear by scent attractors, the verdict is still out for me. thanks for the comment

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  15. a dab shouldn't hurt on the wet flies, no need to apply it to all of them, just do it a little day of.

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  16. Devin
    The only attractant I use is the crappie nibblet. thanks for the comment

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  17. Daniel
    I may try some on the body of a dry fly and not the hackle. Thanks for the comment

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  18. I have and it MAY have worked. Years ago I heard, and they indeed do, that local bait fishermen used WD40. So I did and destroyed the marabou of woolly buggers and marabou leeches. Did not notice a fish catching difference, but even if there was one I would now never scent a fly. I gave up bait fishing and it finally occured to me that was what I was doing. It is illegal since in Idaho to do so to flies. But I am not you. Enjoy your pursuit!

    Gregg

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  19. hmmm, makes me wonder if i should be washing my feet before wet wading some of my favorite local haunts. even if those fish dont make the cut, they are a fine bag indeed!

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  20. Blake
    You got a point there!! thanks for the comment

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  21. What number are you at now - how many bluegills? I may do a panfish challenge next year.

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  22. Josh
    I am at 78 I want make it this year, because the lake is falling daily and it really effect the fishing. Thanks for the comment

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