Northwest Fishing Reports

Just throwing this out there,..I carry Hand Sanitizer in my tackle box and use it while I fish,..attaching worms,..bait,..pulling off weeds from anchors,..etc,..can leave your hands very dirty,..and how many of us take a break on the boat or shore while we're fishing to either eat or drink something? I know I do all the time,..so I try and keep my hands as clean as possible,.. my question is,..does the fragrence or odor of the sanitizer matter,..can fish detect this? I'm looking for some fragrence free santizer,..any info on this would be great!

I read an article about how human scent impacts fish. Scientists took a small piece of human skin and dropped it in a wide stream where salmon were running. The run STOPPED cold for over an hour, until the current carried that piece of skin away. Even then, there was enough residual scent that the salmon were running in a very tight channel, as far away from the area where the skin was dropped as they could get.

I imagine any kind of organic smell is going to be easily detected, and most inorganic ones as well. Gasoline residue on your hands will prevent you from getting a bite, which is why most fishing guides I know fill up their truck/boat the night before.

All I use is a rag while fishing and I try not to fiddle with baits too much, esp soft plastics. I do think human scent can slow things down. Sometimes I apply scent to soft plastics as well, but I am not sold on any particular brand. The gasoline thing though... years ago, there seemed to be a trend of some folks using WD-40 on some baits.

Thanks for response guys,..maybe I should use surgical gloves? I think the fish can definately smell any foriegn matter so I think I'll be a little more cautious when loading baits,...we'll see!

brownbomber wrote:Thanks for response guys,..maybe I should use surgical gloves? I think the fish can definately smell any foriegn matter so I think I'll be a little more cautious when loading baits,...we'll see!

I use latex gloves to apply my scent. Any little thing helps.



fishnislife

I use Polo and the big females love it. lol I smoke when I'm fishing and wash my hands off after every fish they stink like fish!

I never think about it. I just fish, with clean hands and with dirty hands. I've caught fish and gotten skunked with both clean and dirty hands.

I've found that smelly Jelly is great with peanut butter.. MMMmmm finger lickin good:chef:

I usually just rinse my hands off in the water and try not to touch my food. What does not kill you makes you stronger right??:-&

Sam K had some spray on scent (I think it was YUM) the other day. Seemed to be working for him. Got me to thinking, I use Mike's Lunker lotion, so I got a little spray bottle and put about 1/3 with water. Seems to work, but it really isn't mixing completely. Oh well back to the drawing board. Maybe I need to stir it in 1st, instead of trying to just shake the bottle.

Well, being a farm boy...I'm used to DIRTY hands (and we're talking more than just dirt!).
I don't let it bother me too much. I've yet to get sick from having "gunk" on my hands. If anything, it's made my stomach pretty tough against bacteria and such.

When I first get to the lake, I'll usually give my hands a "mud bath" to cover up much of my "human scent."
From there, I just fish. Dirt and mud smells natural, and I've never seen a fish turned off from a fishy smell...after handling the first fish, my hands start to smell pretty "natural."

I usually try not to eat while fishing, so it's not a big deal...save eating to the before and afters.
If you can't, then package your snacks in a manner that you don't have to touch them to eat.....little plastic sandwhich baggies work well--just don't let them get blown into the water when you're done!
Latex/Nitrile gloves will keep your hands clean, but they also tend to puncture, tear, and make your hands sweat...not to mention it's one more piece of trash to accidently lose in the water.

Hand sanitizers, whether scented or not, are still full of alcohol...which has a scent which the fish can detect.
If possible, save using them until after you're done fishing.

I've heard of similar tests to what AaronE mentioned...
Testing anything from human hair, soap, WD40, dog hair, etc...almost every scent sent the fish in the opposite direction. WD40 didn't deter the fish, but didn't "attract" them much either. Using WD40 just contaminates the water, and it rinses off quickly. Use something less detrimental to nature.

Here's more info about how human scent affects fish:
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF2/278.html

Since I'm a "white adult male" (the worst smelling human), I try very hard to minimize my scent. Some basics: I wash my hands before handling my fishing equipment -- especially lures. I also apply a "secondary" scent to lures just before using them. The secondary scent usually gets washed away quickly leaving my lures with ZERO scent, which is perfect. I'm not a big believer in using secondary scent as an attractant even though the makers of these products want you to believe that fish will come running when they smell product X on your lure. The primary purpose of secondary scents is to mask smells that fish find repulsive -- like serine (see article).

One of the hardest unnatural scents to avoid on the water is the smell of sunblock. Unless you like the idea of getting skin cancer, sunblock is a necessary evil -- and you can't wash it off without losing the protection. Most sunblocks have a very strong smell (perfume, bananas, coconuts, etc). Fish do not like these smells! Some products are advertised as "fragrance free", but that does not necessarily mean that they have no smell. In most cases it means the manufacturer did not intentionally add fragrance, but the stuff could still smell nasty. Maybe they add fragrance to cover the original smell of their products!

I recently started using "Ultra Defense" SPF 50 by Banana Boat, which has virtually no smell and doesn't seem to have a negative effect on fish.

What sunblocks do you guys use? I've heard rumors about sunblocks that actually attract fish, but I've never seen them in stores...

Sunblock that attracts fish,.....now there's a thought,..I'm a "Brown-Boy" hence BrownBomber so I don't use sunblock,..heck I try and get darker using tanning oil,..lol,..but since I posted this thread I use Latex gloves and it seems to work,..I'm not a fan of dirty hands even though I'm an Ironworker,..LOL,..but great advice guys!

I read an article about how the old fisherman would spit on their bait for luck. It was found that human saliva will mask the scent left by handling lures and such.

There is a book “The Fisherman's Ocean: How Marine Science Can Help You Find and Catch More Fish” By David A. Ross that deals with this. I have not read the book, but based on the review it might be a good read. It talks about how light skinned males produce more L-serine than anyone else (like Hillbilly said) and it is the L-serine that is offensive to the fish.

David A. Ross wrote:Human saliva seems to contain chemicals that either mask the L-serine odor or are attractive to fish, so you might want to try spitting on your lures...

Link to review

I was skunked at Wildcat Lake yesterday and I blame it all on an old friendly dog. The dog insisted on being petted. I tried to avoid him but finally relented and gave him a few pats. I washed my hands afterward but I think the dog's predator smell stayed with me. I did use an attractant but the old friendly dog jinxed me.

Shad_Eating_Grin wrote:I never think about it. I just fish, with clean hands and with dirty hands. I've caught fish and gotten skunked with both clean and dirty hands.

yup pat the friends dog before going out, smoke while i fish while rubbing sunblock on - still catch fish, and still miss fish. I do use scent, but more as a swimbait lube than scent really.

I think it has an effect on it. Do i do everything in my power to not leave a scent.......no. Heck i chew and when i pack a dip in my thumb and index finger tips have some chew residue. I either wipe on my pants or in the water real quick but i know it still smells like chew. I put on senkos and everything else and still get bites so i do not worry about it too much. Now the thing i do not like much is when i catch a fish get it off the hook and release it. 2 minutes later put a dip in my mouth. WOW does bass film/juice taste bad. LOL :chef:

This subject will always be debatable because "stinky" fishermen still catch fish.

This is the real question: How many fish were interested in a lure, approached it, then ended up not biting because it didn't smell "right"? How would we know? It's easy to count the number of bites we got in a day, but it's impossible to know how many bites we *almost* got.

According to an article that's posted on this site called "Scents that make sense", bass' sense of smell gets better as they get older. As a result, big bass have a VERY well-developed sense of smell. Many anglers believe that lunker bass are hard to catch because they've already been caught on a wide variety of lures. There's probably some truth to that, but their keen sense of smell could also be a major factor that causes them to be so finicky.

So what does all this mean? Do whatever works for you, that's what. It's all good. If a big bass turns up her nose at your lure because it smells "funny", I might have a better chance at getting my picture taken with her.

LOL I must admit that this thread is great,.."If I Do Say So Myself",..anyways you are all Tops in my book,...great responses!

Gringo Pescador wrote:
Sam K had some spray on scent (I think it was YUM) the other day. Seemed to be working for him.

It does work, those smallies love that Craw scent...It sure worked right after I smacked it on those spinnerbaits at that one spot, about 5 casts = 3 fish...My only problem with it is that I don't think that stuff holds on very long though, it's basically like water and it's applied via a spray bottle....So I don't know how long it works....

It was the YUM Crawfish scent. Spray bottle. I don't really apply it all that much, usually once to cover up any remaining scent or any human scent that may have been put on my baits by me tying on a new lure, etc. I use it more as a "once an outing cover up scent." But I'm not a big bass fishermen. I'm much more meticulous when it comes to salmon/trout, and I get much more picky with scents on when trout/salmon fishing....

I try and keep my hands as clean as possible. So I try and avoid gas, foreign scents, etc, whatever else would seem "humany" to fish...Some fishermen like to soak there hands in Smelly jelly before they go out, but I would get more picky about a LOT more elements/variables before I soak my hands in Herring scent before I go out salmon fishing...

fishnislife wrote:Yes, the fragrance matters. It could be a deterrent for the fish. I personally wouldn't use it while fishing. I try not to even touch my baits with my hands if I have something foreign on them and always use an attractant to cover up your smell.
I prefer SmellyJelly.



fishnislife

I would much rather eat a sandwich with fishy hands than touch any kind of soap or sanitizer as well. I think fishinislife and I have discussed this before, but first thing I do after I get my boat started (also I have a 2 stroke so the smelly gas line ball pump must be touched) is scrub my hands in lake water then put some attractant on them. I use YUM, mostly because it comes in a spray bottle so I don't contaminate it with bad scent while I'm applying it. I don't use scent on my baits that much at all though.

Also of note is that having your hands squeaky clean smelling like soap is pretty much as bad as having them soaked in gasoline, the fish hate soap, as well as sunscreen and bug repellent. Like some people said, you want them smelling as natural as possible.

Besides, call me strange, but I absolutely love the smell of bass on my hands, especially big bass. They should make bass scented soap so they could always smell that way.