Re: What's good for washing lures off?
......But it's the lakers I'm concerned with scaring off.....Seems a shame to have shelled out dollars for a down rigger, fish finder etc only to scare them off if my lure that looks like a fish but smells like a worm.
Attractants don't always have to smell like what they look like. Most of the time fish don't have that much logic skills. Yum smells (supposedly) like essence of worm, and the worm-tipped lure thing mentioned above work- the fish recognize something that smells good. Like a (small) piece of perch belly on a 11-size Rapala gets hits when the empty lure didn't...
Maybe I'm giving the fish too much credit that they can tell the difference.
Maybe. I have heard of guys making their own attractant in a blender with the baitfish from their target waters. But I don't think it lasts long before it becomes more like a trapper's stink bait!
I guess what I'm most worried about is the sun block getting on the lure and trolling for hours only to find the fish are being turned off by the smell of the sun block.....Maybe I should invent sunblock that smells like a worm or garlic. I'm sure my Wife would appreciate that
Just get an empty pump-bottle of soft soap, clean it out, and refill it with scent-free biodegradable dishwashing liquid. I think I also remember a bio-degradeable scent-block no-scent "camo soap" at Cabela's- that might work too, but that's more used by aggressive deer hunters. Wash your hands with that after applying the sunscreen, and then give your lures a shot of baitmate as a cover scent.
Hot, soapy water should be a good lure wash; then if you keep them 'pure' you shouldn't have any issue. Just clean your hands often if you touch a lot of mechanical stuff in the boat or put on sunscreen or get your hands on something sweaty...
I don't know this but my
sense of it is that Salmon may like or be attracted to certain smells, but lakers are less so. Don't know for sure. I think bad smells like gasoline are bad, but I have heard of some using WD-40 as a Salmon attractant, but I think that is nuts! Lakers are very attracted to the smell of a sucker when close, but they first seem to be attracted by sight (flash) and vibration.
In my experience, I think that when we apply scents, one of the biggest benefits is the resulting taste when you get a bite on an artificial- more hooked fish you might miss by light biters. The second is the more obvious scent trail. We turn to scents on days we have problems, but on 'good' days often forget to use it.
My 2 cents
