# Scents



## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

I have a friend that swears by Pro-Cure. But personally (and not knocking anyone for using scents), I just never cared for putting scents on artificials. I know some soft plastics have built in scents. Power baits for instants. I don't go out of my way to use them and just prefer lures and soft plastics without the added scents. The reason is, for me not using it/them adds a level of skill to get eats on action and lure presentation, much like fly fishing (which, in that world, it's very frond upon). Anyone can fish live bait, cut bait or scented bait (and if they want to just catch fish, then that's fine for them). But fishing unscented lures and flies, causes me to keep on my game. I'd rather trick 2 fish into eating my unscented lure, than 10 from baits and lures all juiced up! It's just a personal conviction of mine. 

Just my thoughts and my own personal convictions on the subject. 

Ted Haas


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## Hardluk81 (Jan 3, 2016)

I tried the Pro-Cure once because it was in the boat I was fishing out of and definitely think it's a wast of money! I don't think scented will get you more bites per- se but will probably make the fish hold on a little longer once it does hit. That being said I do have some scented soft plastics In my bag but didn't buy them for that reason. It was more of a color shape thing. Just my .02

Maybe C A will chime in!


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## timogleason (Jul 27, 2013)

Hardluk81 said:


> I tried the Pro-Cure once because it was in the boat I was fishing out of and definitely think it's a wast of money! I don't think scented will get you more bites per- se but will probably make the fish hold on a little longer once it does hit. That being said I do have some scented soft plastics In my bag but didn't buy them for that reason. It was more of a color shape thing. Just my .02
> 
> Maybe C A will chime in!


What harlluk81 said above. I think they might hang on longer with junk smeared on them. Especially when it gets cold and they aren't very aggressive. One thing, If I get desperate to catch a fish (which isn't too often) I will break out a Gulp shrimp. They plain out get bit.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

timogleason said:


> One thing, If I get desperate to catch a fish (which isn't too often) I will break out a Gulp shrimp. They plain out get bit.


They also get nailed by trash fish more tho. Just sayin...


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Backwater said:


> They also get nailed by trash fish more tho. Just sayin...


If you don't have the fly rod a 3" pearl Gulp shrimp is the second best thing for finicky trout and reds when sight fishing. 
ProCure works plain and simple, it sure doesn't hurt.


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> If you don't have the fly rod a 3" pearl Gulp shrimp is the second best thing for finicky trout and reds when sight fishing.
> ProCure works plain and simple, it sure doesn't hurt.


It depends where you are at. I like pearl anything out on the wide open sand flats. But doesn't always work in darker water or cloudier conditions, especially up against the mangroves where I fish sometimes.

I know I can catch them on gulp and scents, like with whitebait and shrimp. That's easy. How many thousands of easy fish do you need? So I up the stakes and try to what else I can fool them on. If I'm catching one fish after another on the same lure, I cut it off and experiment with what else they will eat. By that, I can find patterns where they will turn on and turn off from different lures. Example would be if I go into the same area, after the same fish under the same conditions with the same lure..... and they are not eating that lure, then I know what else they will eat in that same situations. That's how I learn more about them and in the end, can be more productive when everything else is not working.

I know this has nothing to do with scents or no scents. I just like to think of it as nonsense that makes sense, not scents! 

Ted Haas


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## mtoddsolomon (Mar 25, 2015)

I spray my self with fish urine every time I head out... all kidding aside I use gulp and zman when I use artificals and always seem to get more on those than unscented regular plastics but it might just be me thinking I'm getting more bites


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## timogleason (Jul 27, 2013)

Backwater said:


> They also get nailed by trash fish more tho. Just sayin...


That they do...


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

Several years ago we tried an experiment with the Yum spray scent. We had two identical hard plastic baits and sprayed one with the spray and one naked. Anchored the boat in a channel with current, threw them out the same distance and put in rod holder.

Only the sprayed one got hit. Switched sides of the boat, same results. Yum truly does work.

Have not tried any other brand in the same manner. Liked the results of the experiment but every drop on the deck will stain.


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## LowHydrogen (Dec 31, 2015)

I've mashed up live caught stuff before to put some stink on Bucktail Jigs, now I really only do it for kids when they're on the boat. It helps with the hook-up rate and keeps them interested in something other than soaking bait, or drifting Gulp skrimps under a Cajun thunder. Speaking of Gulp skrimps, I got a tub of some seriously stinky juice left over from a buddy that buys the Gulp alive shrimp, dipping the bucktails in that seemed to help my son's hook-up rate with stripers in the river recently. I think it helps in masking the smell of super glue/epoxy I use when making the lures.

Be warned though, that stuff smells like a hobo's undercarriage, you wouldn't want to spill it in the boat.


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## bananabob (Jun 3, 2015)

A while back my flies were getting turned down by big gator trout after close inspection and almost bites!? So I got some pro-cure (two flavors) to try. Same results. May work for small dumb fish but those big speckled girls didn't get big by being dumb. Waste of money for me. The handful of _big_ specks I've caught over 26" all came on bare flies.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

It's not ALWAYS that the scent draws strikes but fish will hit a scented lure and come back and smash it a second or third time. You have to be open minded to be a fisherman!


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## EdK13 (Oct 3, 2013)

Since scents stimulate my quarry's senses I am all for them. Especially in dirty water with wind blow current.


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## Ben (Dec 21, 2016)

I think scents help. If they are aggressively feeding it probably doesn't matter. I love using a 3/4 weedless gold spoon and think it helps with redfish in particular.


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## WhiteDog70810 (May 6, 2008)

I generally don't bother with scents because they are just plain nasty, the stench sticks with you for days, I've never felt I needed them and I have never seen a benefit on the rare occasions when I have used them on artificials for gamefish. This a very, very subjective observation because I have only used them when nothing was biting.

If you feel the scents don't hang around long enough in you opinion, you can tip a hook with a 1/4" of the fake bloodworm strips. I tried it for white perch and saw no benefit, but I didn't know what I was doing either.

I can appreciate a challenge in retrospect, but when it is late afternoon and I'm getting skunked, I'm not averse to live bait, cut bait, stink bait, scented lures or dynamite. Tipping jigs with shrimp is the only line I will not cross. I will not sink that low for a fish ever again.

Nate


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## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Scent, in any form, is one of the ways fish go about finding food... Since I fish a lot of beginners, I'm not in the business of making things a bit harder for them.

Whether out in blue water or way back up inside - scent is just one of a few different factors you can use to get a fish on the biting end. We use quite a few small leadheads with Gulp tails on them. I was pretty skeptical (when I first got interested in backcountry fishing a bucktail jig with a tiny bit of fresh shrimp on the hook, no bigger than the end of your little finger, was the standard when you were fishing deep and slow - particularly in winter or colder waters...) but that first day after we caught and released six different species on the same small leadhead with Gulp tail -one of my anglers snagged Gulp-tailed leadhead at a creek mouth where we had a small bite going on... Since I didn't want to disturb a feeding lane we left that rod in gear in a rodholder and I handed the angler a second rod. Usually we'll do that sort of stuff either until the bite slows down or we've snagged up a second rod -then it's time to go retrieve them both... About five minutes later that Gulp rig, stuck on the bottom, bent over and there was a five pound redfish on the other end. We hadn't touched the rod once since it snagged up so the fish had to have found it by scent and then went and ate it... That would never had happened otherwise. From that moment on I was impressed with how well the stuff worked. The only difference between it and ordinary plastic tailed lures (Gulp isn't plastic at all - it's some kind of hardened gel, and completely bio-degradable according to Berkley....).

Yes, I get a real kick out of an angler getting a good strike on a topwater lure - and it's just as much fun when a beginning fly angler makes his (or her) first presentation to sight-fished red, snook, trout, or tarpon up in water so shallow you're holding your breath until the bite... There are times and situations when a small spoon that has nothing going for it except what the angler adds on the retrieve - allows you to quickly cover lots of water and find fish on a day when you're not getting any fish locating signals at all - anywhere... and do well. I do have to say, though, that every day on the water when bait (or something that smells like bait...) is the ticket for a good day - when nothing else is working.... is still a great day.

As for specific products (other than the Gulp I mentioned) - those you'll have to sort out for yourselves. Some work -others are just so much advertising... Go back to the basics in cold weather with a bucktail tipped with a bit of shrimp if you really need convincing. I know what's worked -but I had to learn most of it the hard way....

By the way for anyone using simple cut bait on the bottom - ever notice how the only time it works really well is when there's a current present? Each nice, really fresh chunk of cutbait works as its own chumslick - if there's a current present...


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## SomaliPirate (Feb 5, 2016)

I like to think myself above scents most of the time but I admit that when I'm after large tailing black drum on artificial I'll coat whatever I'm using in Pro-Cure. Since drum are so scent oriented, it really seems to work when you just want a tight line. On a side note, this past year I had a rat invasion of my outdoor shed. Pro-Cure is far and away the best rat trap bait ever. Outcaught rats at least 2 to 1 over peanut butter and cheese.


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## Flood tides (Nov 23, 2016)

topnative2 said:


> I am now fishing in a strong current area---Georgia coast--and tried scents a few times and it appears to me they do not last. So,.............
> 
> Do you think using scents increases the number of strikes?
> 
> ...


 I think scent make a great deal of a difference. I fish around St. Simons island GA which is probably very similar to the areas you fish. I use pro-cure shrimp, mullet,and ladyfish. I get a lot more hits on my zmans than I do without scent. In the waters you and I fish there is limited visibility and having a scent for the fish to smell is going to make a big difference. even when you can't see the scent on the bait you can still smell it. If you aren't getting hits with or without scents try a different spot or try a different bait. I hope this will help you out and see you on the water.


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## M48SHOOTER (Oct 20, 2019)

" Pro-Cure is far and away the best rat trap bait ever. Outcaught rats at least 2 to 1 over peanut butter and cheese."

Now that is funny stuff there....


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## karstopo (Nov 28, 2019)

OP mentions fishing in high current. In a lot of current, especially if the wind isn’t helping, it seems like it’s more difficult getting a decent presentation. If the fish are glued pretty close to the structure, I like something with some tungsten weighting since tungsten sinks a lot faster in water than lead. 

I like to think presentation trumps scent in areas with a lot of current. Fish will take various unscented offerings even in almost opaque water with current. They might be in a tight zone exploiting a little current block and may not get far outside that zone. 

But, I haven’t fished scented lures in a decade. My buddy dabs on procure sometimes on the rare day when the fish seem to be snubbing his lures, but I haven’t seen any good evidence it works for him when he’s not getting any love with unscented lures. I used to fish gulp crabs and shrimp once in a while suspended under a rattling cork, but that worked better for me in less current. One tournament fisherman I know would kill the fish very slow trolling white gulp shrimp along the ICW edges, a channel that often has a lot of current. J. Miller here fishes a lot of gulp often in deeper channel and harbor areas with current and catches hundreds of flounder every year. But he doesn’t always fish gulp. He talks about presentation as much as the lures.


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## trekker (Sep 19, 2015)

Scents ? Why not just use live bait if you want scent ?


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

trekker said:


> Scents ? Why not just use live bait if you want scent ?


Who wants to dick around for half the morning with the cast net or driving around trying to buy bait?


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

Berkley guards the main ingredient of Gulp! more than Cocoa-Cola. But it is menhaden oil. It was field-tested at the FSU Marine Lab in St. Teresa, east of Apalachicola.

Pro-Cure makes some as well, along with shrimp, mullet, blue crab, etc. All are derived from the actual baits. I do use the PC gels occasionally on lures when the fish are especially finicky and feel it gives a slight edge. Has to be re-applied after multiple casts. But presentation, tidal movement, moon phase and solunar feeding windows are other factors to consider as well.


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## Snakesurf (Jun 18, 2019)

I just piss in the water when I'm not catching anything, seems to work every time. Also if your deer hunting and not seeing any deer, just light up a joint and they will come out of everywhere.


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

ProCure works, Gulp & Z-man work too. Use them both but never ProCure on hard plastics, don't like the residue slime it leaves on them.
Hard plastic lures for me is all about the flash & cadence.
Ain't to proud to use bait, live, dead, cut, frozen when it's needed......

One time we were fishing for Bull Reds & we couldn't find any schools of live pogeys.
We had several small containers of country store salted cut Mullet.
And it worked, caught 17 Bull Reds & a dozen Blacktip Sharks that trip.
Would have caught more but we ran out of rigs & bait.
Whatever works to have a great day of "catching" is what we learned that day......ICM


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Ice Cream Man said:


> ProCure works, Gulp & Z-man work too. Use them both but never ProCure on hard plastics, don't like the residue slime it leaves on them.
> Hard plastic lures for me is all about the flash & cadence.
> Ain't to proud to use bait, live, dead, cut, frozen when it's needed......
> 
> ...


Bull reds will eat a cat turd when they’re feeding hard!


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## Capnredfish (Feb 1, 2012)

Years ago I used scents in tube baits. I’ve since switched to eating a sandwich when fishing is slow. Fish will soon show themselves. Cleaning dried american cheese from Seadek is fun at the end of the day.


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## Big Fish (Dec 20, 2019)

Pro cure is the bomb. I have no doubt that it makes a difference. Hell, even if it provokes just one more bite a day its worth it. 

The problem with most scents is they dissipate much too quickly. The extra sticky nature of procure is why I like the brand.

Scent effectiveness on lures is undeniable at this point. Don't believe me? Try dead sticking some gulp.


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