Fishing Scents Make Sense
Masking Agents Will Trick a Fish's Brain Into Biting
No matter where anglers choose to fish or what species they wish to catch, savvy anglers should know about the fish's highly developed sense of smell. It's no coincidence that kids and the elderly can and often do outfish skilled adult anglers. All human beings that have come into contact with gasoline, oils, cleaning ingredients and various other chemicals ingest these into their system through pores in their hands. These are the culprits that can repel fish away from baits and lures.
Why Fish Scent Works
Washing one's hands with soap and water may take away a little of the repulsive chemicals, but during the course of a day's fishing, the chemicals resurface and this is why fish scents, also known as masking agents, are so important to fishing. Fish scents come in gels or liquid and there are endless tastes and smells added to these fish attractants including but not limited to, crawfish, earthworm, blood, anise, shad and a wide variety of Berkley Gulp Alive scents. Any or all of these scents act to mask human odor or trick the fish's sense of smell into believing they are biting a real bait fish or prey.
Use An Appealing Presentation
The Original Fish Formula Company was the first to manufacture fish scents designed to aid anglers in catching fish, especially with artificial lures. Company President, Don Zeilenski, believes that to effectively be consistent at catching fish, anglers must present products that appeal to all the fish's senses and his company's contribution to the fishing community has had a great impact. Practically every major fishing lure manufacturer now incorporates some type of fish attracting odor or masking agent. Scientists at Berkley Laboratories has concluded that nearly all species of fish use their sense of smell almost equally as their sense of sight. All Berkley soft plastic lures contain the patented Berkley Gulp scents.
While fish scents always enhance a bait's performance, most anglers don't realize just how much the sense of smell is used by fish to locate their prey. Fish not only have nostrils, but they also have tiny receptors in their lateral line and on their lips which they can use to find bait fish even when in dark water. Fish that are completely blinded may survive a long time simply by utilizing their sense of taste and smell.
Often, anglers wonder why anyone would spray or coat a live minnow or earthworm with a manufactured fish scent. The reason is quite simple. When handling live bait some of the chemicals mentioned above can be transferred from the hands to the bait and repel the fish. Many times, when a fish inhales a bait and immediately spits it out, it is because one or more of the chemicals transferred to the bait has been detected by the fish's receptors and relayed to the brain that something is just not right.
Anglers are always in a constant pursuit of any creation, lure or bait that will add more fish to the creel and while there is no do-all-cure- all in fishing baits, fish scents really do make a lot of sense.
Bill Park With Bass Caught On A Scented Bait
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