I've been bass fishing now for over
50 years and I've seen a lot of products over the years claim to be fish
attractants. Heck I'll admit I've tried almost all of them from time to
time with mixed results. What I have found is that bass as well as
most fish in general must be Italian. What......yes Italian and why I say
that is most of them love Garlic. A lot of old crusty bass fishermen will
tell you the same thing. However I've been thinking, do they really
love garlic or does the garlic masks the other smells and tastes we put on our
baits that fish don't like. I know for a fact if you put Sun Block
on and don't clean your hands really well then you are going to be in for a
tough day fishing. There are other things like gas, oil and foods that we
get on our hands on our way to the water that just plain turn bass off like a
big switch. Hunters have been trying to mask their smell for thousands of
years and it is about time fishermen learn to do the same thing. Once you
agree that masking our smells is necessary now comes the hard part, picking the
right fish attractant.
Now I have to admit that most of
the Garlic based attractants I've tried have had some level of success.
They range from dips to sprays of all kinds and yes they do cover up the bad
smells we put on our baits and some even cover the bad tastes. The
problem with most of these though is you have to reapply way too often. This
really makes their use not time effective and that especially goes when you are
tournament fishing. Every time you stop to put more attractant on your
bait is time your bait is out of the water. This can add up to a lot of
missed casts during the course of the day and we all know you can't catch fish
with your bait in the boat! So not only do you want a product that
removes your smell and tastes from your baits you want one that will stay on
your bait for a long time. Having to reapply every 5-10 casts is way too
often and will cost you 40-50 lost casts in the course of a day. You need
a product that stays on your bait long enough to be measured in minutes and not
casts. I want my attractant to stay there and be effective for at
least 30 minutes for each application. If it stays there and is working
for at least 30 minutes then I’m not wasting as much valuable time fishing.
The other thing about these so
called "Fish Attractants" is most don't really attract fish.
Like I said I believe some of them do a super job covering up smells and tastes
that might come off your hands onto your baits, but I don't believe they really
attract fish to hit. To attract a fish to your bait they would have to
leave some type of scent trail in the water. Sure there might be some
sort of trail, but how much of a trail could they leave if you have to reapply
them every few casts? Well the way I see it they can't be leaving
much of a trail if they wash off your bait that quickly. Of course some
may be better than others but in conditions where a fish needs to use their
sense of smell to find your bait I have never seen any real difference.
So even though they boast about attracting fish in their advertisements, they
really are only good for covering up bad smells but mostly bad tastes on your
bait.
As for the type of scents/flavors
offered up they have Shad, Crawfish, Leach, Garlic Minnow and Garlic Crawfish
(aka Crawlic). I have personally used all except the Leach, but I have a
tube of it to try really soon. Currently the Crawlic is my go to for
Jigs, Worms and Creatures with the Shad being my go to for Swim Jigs, Swim
Baits and Spinnerbaits. There are times when the plain Crawfish and
Garlic Minnow seem to work better so I keep tubes of them in the boat as
well. Just like I'm well stock with my favorite baits I want to be well
stocked with Liquid Mayhem. I'm sure by now you all know this, but I do
have to say that Liquid Mayhem is Derek Herring Fishing Approved before ending
this article. I truly believe in this product and recommend that each of
you give it a try!
Until next time Tight Lines and
Take a Kid Fishing!!!
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