By: Mark Romanack
It’s widely known that trout and salmon use their sense of scent to not only find food, but also to aid in annual migrations and spawning rituals.
The more time I spend fishing, the more I realize that fish use all of their senses when it comes to finding food. All fish use their lateral line, an organ located just below the skin as a tool similar to radar. The lateral line allows fish to pick up even the slightest vibrations in the water. You might say the lateral line allows fish to “feel” or “sense” what’s around them.
Fish also have highly developed hearing. Despite the fact their ears are buried deep in their head and only a tiny opening to the outside allows sound to enter, fish have an uncanny ability to decipher the many sounds associated with finding food and feeding.
Some fish enjoy a highly developed sense of sight, while others live in a gloomy dark world. Most of the predatory species including walleye, pike, musky, bass, trout and salmon enjoy excellent eyesight that helps them not only find food, but also to avoid danger.
Other fish like catfish, bowfin, suckers, carp and most of the minnow species, enjoy only marginally useful eyesight. It’s these fish that are hampered with poor eyesight that compensate by having an exceptionally acute sense of smell.
Pretty much everyone who has spent any time studying fish agrees that rough species like carp, suckers, drum, catfish, etc., use scent as primary means of finding food. Stink baits designed to attract and catch these fish have been used successfully for generations.
That’s why I’m so surprised that fishermen in general don’t understand the power of scent as it pertains to fishing success. All fish have an acute sense of smell, even the predatory species that depend heavily on their sense of sight to find and catch food also use scent as a means of confirming exactly what they are about to eat really is food.
The author has become a big proponent of using natural scent products to attract fish and generate more aggressive strikes. Pro Cure Super Gel is not only made of natural forage species, the sticky gel produces a natural scent stream that lasts for 30-40 minutes before it’s necessary to re-apply.
You see fish use scent to identify food, but they also use scent for a wealth of other purposes including guiding long range migrations, locating natal spawning waters and also to identify danger. Scent becomes a triggering sense that helps them decipher the difference between food and danger.
Anglers who understand this complex relationship can capitalize by using scent products that are not only naturally attractive to fish, but also by avoiding contamination with odors that spell danger.
In short, to get the most from scent products requires first a regiment that eliminates unnatural odors before applying natural scent products. Simply washing lures, attractors and other fishing gear in odorless dish soap goes a long ways towards eliminating unnatural odors like gasoline, hand lotion, insect spray, etc.
The second step involves using scent products that replicate the odor fish encounter when naturally feeding. That’s the primary reason we use and recommend Pro Cure Bait Scents is because they are made from a host of different natural forage species that are frozen, freeze dried and ground into a fine powder. The fish powder is then mixed into a stabilizing agent that prevents spoilage and creates a sticky emulsion that delivers a long lasting scent stream when applied to hard baits, soft plastics and even live bait.
We preach “matching the hatch” the process of using scent products made from the very baitfish common in a particular fishing area. Pro Cure produces a wide variety of Super Gel formulas made from the most common forage species found in both fresh and salt water.
Some of our favorites include Emerald Shiner and Gizzard Shad for walleye, Crayfish and Goby for bass, Alewife and Smelt for trout and salmon and Salmon Egg for steelhead and brown trout.
Pro Cure’s new Pro Packs include three popular scents in one money saving package. They have Pro Packs for Walleye, Bass and Trout/Salmon.
It’s amazing how effective scent products are at enticing strikes when this simple regiment is employed. It takes a little work to clean lures before applying scent, but the process insures the best possible success.
These days we use natural scent products for all the species we commonly target at Fishing 411 TV. Once you’ve seen scent working it’s magic, it’s hard not to apply scent products every day spent on the water.