Fly scent?

[navigator37 0]

Just wondering if any of you have tricks to mask any odors

that are unpleasant to the fish.

Do you consider the scent of the fly to be important?

Odors like tobacco residue, sweat, or even the smell

of any trace chemical could turn fish off,

especially trout.

I found out that sometimes even fishing small size

20 chironimid pupae, that smoking and then tying a fly on

to my tippet was a big mistake. Common sense I guess

but my hands were wet and I tied a fly on not realizing

how much it would affect my fishing. The water on my fingers

even with fairly washed smokers hands was enough to turn the

fish off of my flies.

I tried several things that worked through the years.

1. Bug guts. Any bugs you can get. make a paste out of them

( yeah, I'm mean) and knead it onto the fly. Works great.

2. Soil. Take some peat type soil from around the lake and rub it

onto the fly to give it a more earthy smell.

3. Certain bottled bait scents. I like Ultra Clam sticky liquid.

Not much luck with bottled Power Bait scents though.

I think trout everywhere are sick of smelling that stuff by now.

4. A freshly caught minnow. Keep it with you and rub the fly

on the minnow's body slime.

Leech slime also works.

Snail slime as well.

 

What's your opinion?

[flytire 0]

why not just bait fish :dunno:

[sandflyx 0]

here in Pa. that's considered bait fishing on some waters..

[Futzer 0]

Hi Nav37, I religiously keep suncreen and hands washed with soap as far away from line, leader, tippet and fly as possible. I have not noticed issue with having an occasional cigar while fishing, and more issue with hitting the lit end of it with my leader Though I may have one cigar a year. I do not dip my flies in a scent, I do wash my hands with stream side mud after using sunscreen. I also think a bad scent affects nymphs, and streamers more than dries. Scent definately affects saltwater flies, I have seen that personally. And while fishing dries, it affects the leader and tippet more than the bug. I have never seen issue with using a floatant like Musilin, or slicone, my personal favorite is Dave's Bug float.

 

If I kept a minnow, leech or snail in my pocket to rub my flies, I bet it would help, but I would have to fish alone. The ridicule from my fishing buddies would be brutal.

 

Cheers, Futzer.

[fishinbub 0]

All of that (aside from the dirt) would be illegal on Ga DH streams. Just make sure you know the regulations where you are fishing before you add scent to a fly.

[DavidR 0]

I saw a program once with Dave Whitlock and he ran his fly through some weeds at waters edge with his hands to "mask" the scent of his hands. I believe he was streamer fishing, but I could be wrong.

[kodiaksalmon 0]

Not using scent....as a cover or attractant....is one of the things that separates flyfishermen from conventional gear fishermen. I don't wear sunscreen; I wear the longsleeve shirts and pants made for tropical fishing, I don't fill up my gas tank on the way to the boat ramp, and just out of habit, don't even typically eat while fishing. So I don't worry about covering anything up. And if I was going to add scent to a fly, I might as well hook some Berkley Gulp! on my fly hook. Do what you like, but check regs first at the least.

[patrick carroll 0]

A few years ago, when bait fishing, I used anise oil on my hands to hide the human smell. It seemed to help. Possibly a mind game!! I was convinced it worked.

 

Have a good one

Pat Carroll

[TigerTom 0]

I too recall Dave Whitlock advocating using waterside debris (mud, algae etc) to mask the chemical scent of his flies.

Personally I think if you are within the regs of the waters you're fishing and/or not trying to obtain a fly-only record, have at it. I flyfish 99.9% of the time and largely prefer to use flies I tied myself. I don't get the same satisfaction of a good catch using other methods or other's flies. That being said I am not above scenting my fly. Once I was in Marathon FL at a roadside park with only 4 hrs to fish & no knowledge of the local water. So I rubbed some shrimp on my Equine Charlie and proceeded to chum with the rest of the shrimp. Had to do something to increase my chances.

[navigator37 0]

Thanks for the input everyone.

You guys do have a point about the difference between bait

fisherman and flyfisherman.

Scenting a fly if i have to, does sometimes make me feel like a dishonest

flyfisherman, but if I feel I may have contaminated a fly with

something, I'll mask the scent anyways.

I didn't know about scenting a fly being illegal in some places.

Thanks for the reminder to everyone.

As far as attracting the fish to the fly, I do believe that the shape, action,

and color of the fly should be the prime directive of attracting fish in fly fishing.

 

[CoachBob 0]

search "fish perfume" at flyanglersonline.com

 

[JSzymczyk 0]

:wallbash: :crying:

 

Technology has changed our sport to such a degree that it is nearly pointless to argue this. Personally, I will only VERY rarely put some scent on a fly. Usually only when goofing around trying to catch stuff like LMB if I can't buy a strike on my flies. I've also found, many times with bass and crappie, that putting high tech attractant scent on my flies doesn't do anything. On any surface flies, I think it's pretty much a waste. That is especially true of "traditional" dry flies.

 

I think some folks need to relax a little. Everyone reaches this point once in a while, with the scent issue. Everyone has their personal issues with it I guess. How far are we going to carry this "Why not just fish with bait?" argument? Well then, why not fish strictly with flies tied from natural materials? Or wait, you better only fish with a wooden rod. And your fly line better be silk or linen, your leader should be horsehair or gut. Fluorocarbon that is invisible to the fish? no way, Jose. Your reel better not have anything more than a click-pawl drag. You should fish ONLY for trout too, and they should ONLY be born in the water you're fishing. Other than that, it's just NOT fly fishing!! Oh, and forget any synthetic fabric clothes that block UV--- you either should wear only tweed or wool, or just put up with the cancer. Suck it up. What's with polarized glasses? Sounds like an unfair advantage. Deal with your own eyes.

 

This is silly. Fly Fishermen are the only group of fishermen who for the most part do not use scents. Look at these bass guys with their megabucks invested in stuff, almost worse than fly fishermen. There must be 500 different scent formulas you can buy just for splooging on bass lures.

 

I would invite anyone to take a good read of early 20th century fishing literature. The best anglers of the time, such as Ray Bergman, used lures like small spinners and spoons, and oh-my-God, even worms and other bait on their fly rods.

 

Bottom line is: if you don't have any personal hang-ups about squirting some goo on a fly to make it smell good to a fish, then it's OK as long as some politician didn't enact a law against it.

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

I know sometimes when salmon and steelheading in the fall I take some roe and rub my egg flies in it seems to work

[foambug 0]

i used wd40 on occasions with flotant i know its wierd but it works to a degree...smells are for bait fishn.....

[Fred H. 0]

Scent on flies. I have had a different opinion on this topic from time to time. I will not add scent to flies. That

is just my personal choice. I will however take precautions to keep my hands and flyboxes free from odors

that might be detrimental . One of which is to not return a water soaked fly to my fly box. With the heat and

humidity down here it would give the flies a musty odor. I let my flies dry completely on a patch before

returning them to the box. This disscussion on scent is pointless . people will do as they wish. When idiots

will argue a fly dosen't have to have a hook to be considered a fly how are you going to have a meaningful discussion on any topic. Unless its written in a rulebook or made law how will you enforce it? The truth is even

if it were a law some people would do it anyway. We each have to make these choices for ourselves . When

tying or fishing if we want to take shortcuts (glue & epoxy instead of thread) or add scent attractants , we

only hurt ourselves.

As I said this is my personal choice. And I will not argue with anyone who wants to do differently.

Fred