# flavored-scented flies



## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Those of you who are flyfishing purists
should close your eyes and exit now.
I would not want to raise your blood pressure
and be responsible for any coronaries or ruptured aneurisms...

Are they gone yet?  

I see flavored artificial lures/baits being used everywhere now,
did a little googling looking at flavored flies.
I see in some states they are banned for use in certain waters.

Anybody willing to admit to trying a flavored fly?
Anybody tried to flavor their own? How?
Was wondering if it made a discernable difference in catch rate?

I ask because I've had a local pod of reds refuse to cooperate
and figured as a last shot to try something with a little
taste or smell to improve my strike percentage.


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## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

it's not an infuriating or blood pressure intensifier for me unless someone uses scents and boast's about success or enters tournament fish when using them. 

To me this sort of thing is similar to the compound bow verses traditional bow debate. They are both bow hunting in a conventional sense, but the compound bow presents many advantages to the hunter that the zero let-off, draw only in the presence of game, traditional bow does not. The two offer different degree's of difficulty in placing an arrow in a game animals' vitals, but its still relatively difficult vs muzzle loader or modern weapon hunting. 

The same is true here, its still difficult to cast and present a fly regardless of whether its been enhanced with scent or not. A fly, scented or otherwise doesn't move water like most conventional lures and doesn't assure a strike by any measure. And of course fighting a fish with a fly rod is more difficult should the scented fly produce a hook up. 

Another angle is that if using scented flies by newcomers to increase the chance of success and further proliferate the sport than I'm all for it, but not in tournaments. I think those should be the holy grail for a more purist approach. When fishing for fun then let your conscience be your guide.


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

I don't have a lot of time, so I'm just going to make this a short response.

I have tried it with no discernable improvement in catch rate.

Problems - Lunker Sauce or other gels/pastes are "whipped" off of the fly the first cast you make. Hooking on a piece of Fish Bites really messes up the aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. Tying in a piece of Fish Bites only leaves a hollow space or a bunch of loose threads once it dissolves.

The only scent-adding method I've tried that doesn't cause issues, is to take a dry fly (and by dry I mean it hasn't gotten wet yet), and soak it in a bag of Gulp juice. You can get a few stinky casts that way, but the couple of times I tried it didn't produce any more strikes than normal. :


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## Caddis9 (Nov 6, 2008)

Have to admit, I've been thimking of trying it myself. Another flaw in using scent that Id be concerned about is that it would kind of gum up the action of the fly. At least most of what we use hear in the northeast for stripers, blues, bonito and false albacore, would lose there effectiveness. Had kind of put it on the back burner for now. I'm not a purist anymore. Although, I only reach for my spinning rod when conditions make trying to cast a fly near impossible. Usually, in a boat in rough seas. I very rarely use it from shore, only for my customers who don't fly fish, yet. But I may give it a try now that it's back on my mind. We still have a little season left here before the fish leave the New England coast. My friend and I have been driving to Rhode Island for day trips to extend our season the last few years. We have called it quits the last year or two Thanksgiving week. But, I've talked to guys down there who have taken big stripers Christmas week. I'll keep the scent thing in mind and give it a try up here. Maybe I'll go by myself one day. One of my other concerns is that my friends will find out. I'd never live it down with some of them. I must say though, I have many friends who use spinning and baitcasters, can't ever remember hearing much talk of scents. But I'll give it a try and let you know how I make out.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Thanks for the input guys. I spent a couple hours putting on
another layer of fiberglass and had time to think about a way
to flavor a fly. I think I'm going to cut a hook shank thin piece
of fishbite, about 1/4" long, and using stupid glue, run a bead of
cement along the back edge of the bend of the hook, and apply
the bit of bite out of the airflow on the curved back of the hook.
Never know until you try. Might get a blue crab on fly....


Cleaning the hook after use is as simple as running a knife
edge down the back of the hook. Stupid glue shaves right off.
Used to use stupid glue on fiddler crabs, so that I've done.


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## aaronshore (Aug 24, 2007)

I see the point of trying to scent flies. Its not for me. I would say I sight fish 90% of the time, so my time blind casting is limited. I spend my time looking for fish, and when I see one, putting a fly in his face one way or another. For me a scented fly would be pointless.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Good point aaron, I don't even care if I catch fish,
my barbs are pinched down, but I like the strikes.
I only sight cast to fish I can see, so I can watch the hit.
That slurp on top or grab on the bottom are what I'm there for.
A run or two and an extended release are fine by me.
This pod of reds must get HaMm3r'ed something fierce
on weekends. 

Sorry, couldn't resist...


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## swampfox (May 9, 2007)

Scented fly? Srew that , just put a piece of bait on a bare hook! ;D


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Watched that happen once, Large gentleman, name withheld,
with a new flyrod got frustrated by an unresponsive largemouth.
He tied on a rubber spider, caught a small bream, unhooked the
bream, stuck it in his top pocket, bit the fly off, tied on a large hook,
hooked the bream through the tail, pulled out some slack, and
softballed the bream to the bass. Hooked the bass. I guess he really
wanted to say he caught something on his new rod.


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## redfish (Nov 12, 2008)




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## aaronshore (Aug 24, 2007)

Was his name Brett by chance???


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

> Posted by: aaronshore
> Was his name Brett by chance???


No, live bait on flyrod is not my forte...
live bait on cane pole, however, took a lot of snook.


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