Do Attractants Really Help You Catch More Bass?

November 22nd, 2009 Posted in Travel and Leisure

Often people take advantage of the olfactory system of the bass when trying to attract more fish to the end of their line. There are actually some known scents that the bass really enjoy. Of the scents that bass enjoy you have: salt, garlic, anise and a bunch of other spices.

A bass is equipped to determine whether a scent is “negative” or “positive” and will behave appropriately once that is determined. Manufacturers of fish attractant products locked in on the main positive scents and created products to smell just like them. Of the negative scents that will turn the bass away you have: gasoline, strong odors transferred from your hands to the bait, and even blood from a wounded schoolmate (not to be confused with blood from prey).

Bass are equipped with 2 nostrils on both sides of their head. One set are called the anterior nostrils and the other set are called the posterior nostrils. Water flows into the anterior nostrils, over the olfactory glands, then out again through the posterior nostrils. Approximately 1 200th of a drop of a substance per 100 gallons of water can be detected by the amazing olfactory system of the bass. For this reason alone, anglers suggest washing your hands before fishing and applying some sort of attractant to your bait, whether it is sprayed on or it is already impregnated into the lure.

Scent is not exactly the major factor in foraging for bass like it is with catfish, salmon and carp, but it does play an important role. Bass are known to hang onto a bait up to 30 seconds longer when a positive scent is present.

Plenty of bait and tackle shops carry various fish attractant products. They also have plenty of bass lures that have already been scented. The list of the top manufacturers for attractants include: Berkley, Basswax, Liquid Lure, Mega Strike, Mr. Goop, Dr. Juice and plenty more.

One of my favorite attractants isn’t a spray like most are, it is in a tube like chap stick and contains beeswax. The wax stays on the lures or plastic baits much longer and there is no concern for drips and spills. Basswax is the manufacturer I purchase from for the beeswax product.

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Bass Fishing As Defined On Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_fishing

Bass fishing is the activity of angling for the North American gamefish known colloquially as the black bass. There are numerous black bass species considered as gamefish in North America, including largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieui), Spotted bass or Kentucky bass (Micropterus punctatus), Guadalupe bass (Micropterus treculii), and many other species and subspecies of the genus Micropterus. Though referred to as bass, all are actually members of the sunfish family (Centrarchidae: order Perciformes).