Attracting fish

[dingbat]

Re: Attracting fish

I know fishing in different areas of the country have different approaches and techniques, but the dissolved oxygen test by checking for bubbles sounds hokey to me.

Bubbles *might* be an indicator of pH or of a certain concentration of dissolved particulates but I can't think of a single scientific reason for bubbles to have anything to do with oxygen content.

My 2 cents as usual...

I was thinking the exact same thing. I find it interesting that the instructions in the O2 test kits state if you have bubbles in your sample it’s contaminates and you need to take another sample to test.

 

[pdgs]

Re: Attracting fish

I was thinking the exact same thing. I find it interesting that the instructions in the O2 test kits state if you have bubbles in your sample it’s contaminates and you need to take another sample to test.

You are correct, that would be contaminates when using the test kits. I bought one and used it once then threw it away.

Science has little to do with dragging your fingers through the water and judging the results. That, my friends, comes with experience and skills that are often passed on from generation to generation. My Dad taught me how to do it and he said his dad taught him. Personally, I believe in it because I've yet to have any reason to doubt it. Maybe it is just a ritual and maybe it's not, who's to say. JLawsen's not comming back to this board anyway so you're just wasting your time.

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Attracting fish

All bubbles aside, do you have a model of those bamboo reefs that will work in 240 feet of water for salmon?!

 

[JEBar]

Re: Attracting fish

for the last couple of years I've been using Fishbites? Bag O'Worms Bloodworm Alternative Saltwater Bait with good success while surf casting on NC and SC beaches .... while using it I've caught flounder, spots, corkers, blues and several other types of fish .... I do believe that it helps attract fish by spreading a scent trail .... it worked so well in salt water that this summer I tried it in South Dakota while walleye fishing .... unfortunately, it didn't prove to work

Jim

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Attracting fish

Scents and stuff like powerbait /do/ work. Sometimes.

Gulp hasn't worked out as well for me as it does on TV either. However, there are occasions when I am trolling walleyes with harnesses that a powerbait worm- or another soft plastic worm that has been punctured multiple times with a fork and steeped in a baggie with an attractant for some time- will cut down on the yellow perch and bluegills stealing the worm and you can still catch walleyes. Other times a real nightcrawler is the only thing that works no matter how well my plastic is scented or I am using powerbait or gulp worms.

Nevertheless, the red Yum crawfish scent spray works on walleyes some days, and a winning state bass champ I know has switched off using Yum spray with the co-boater and whoever is using the Yum at the time is the one that catches fish 2 or 3 to one over the non-yum rod.

Powerbait Salmon and Trout attractant has also shown good results on occasion. Sometimes it seems to make a big difference; other days you wonder what you wasting the time for. And only the fish know: it has made landlocks get hooked up even more on a good bite, and seems to get bites on slow fishing days, sometimes. Other days it doesn't seem to do anything. It's fun to have one angler use scent and the other not, and then change the other way. This has proven that "sometimes" it makes a huge difference. Then there are the days that no matter who is in the boat when 'my' rods get the most action with or without scent. I can't explain that one: same boat, sometimes same lures, often same depth and usually similar presentation. Then there's the days when you spend 8 hours for one fish: I joke "well I guess we caught the fish" when it isn't a skunk day.

Either way I don't think scents ever hurt anything - but they *can* help to get fish to bite or hang on long enough to get gamakatsued!

 

[dingbat]

Re: Attracting fish

Maybe it is just a ritual and maybe it's not, who's to say.

I don't look to such ritualistic means to gather information. I just look it up in the almanac

 

[pdgs]

Re: Attracting fish

I wise man once said to me, "There aint a fish in any pond that'll turn down a half a worm if it's a good worm" Just exactly what a good worm is, might mean one that smells like a worm should I guess. Fresh worms always seem to work better so yeah, if attratctants make your bait smell fresher to the fish and that's what they want, then use them. I do, it's never seemed to hurt.