Nail polish

[ikerajala 0]

Hi boys and girls,

 

Today in north Idaho is snowy and cold.One of those days where it feels good to be inside tying flies.Every once and awhile I look outside

 

at the snow falling and am glad I have a nice cozy home.

 

My question is that I have been tying some of the ray bergman wets and use nail polish to paint the heads black.Is this smelly substance

 

going to repel the fish ?

 

The reason I ask is because I plan on using these flies to fish with and they are a far cry from Don Bastians wonderful artistic creations.

 

Every time I open my box of flies I smell nail polish.

 

Whats the word on the street?

[kodiaksalmon 0]

Never bothered my fish. I do let them air out for a while, but never had a problem. I do think some smells could be an issue, like gasoline or bugspray. But you'll never be able to get a fly scent free and I don't think you need to. If it absolutely reeks, maybe. But I have the same issue when I put bars on my flies with magic marker. I'll smell magic marker for a while, but it's never bothered the fish.

[bluegill576 0]

for trout i don't think it matters, but for bass one of the main triggers for if they will eat something is scent. I normally use a loon product called loon hard head because I personally don't like smelling the nail polish. It also does a better job on heads than nail polish in my opinion.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Nope, at least not on saltwater and warmwater fish down here in south Louisiana.

 

Kirk

[Foamation 0]

No problem here in the north either, I think for the most part the scent goes away after a little while.

[FrequentTyer 0]

I would think that most of the smell is due to the volatile solvent used to keep the polish a liquid. As the solvent evaporates, the polish hardens and the smell goes with the solvent. It is an interesting question though just how important scent is to trout. They clearly have a keen sense of smell, but given the dilution in moving water and the rapid decision the fish has to make, I have a hard time believing that scent could be a key trigger positive or negative. However, I remember reading somewhere that certain amino acids (might have been lysine)can put trout down even in small quantities. The logic was that mammals, and bears in particular, produce a lot of lysine, so it is a warning to the trout that a predator is nearby. But then you have guys that wet wade and spit on flys and still catch trout.

[Jaydub 0]

First I should say that my knowledge of nail polish begins and ends with Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails clear. But I believe that FrequentTyer is correct that most if not all of the odor is from the solvent. Once dry, I cannot detect any odor at all. That goes for nail polish or any other head cement that I have used. I have heard people say that head cement odor puts off fish. If that were true I'd never catch any fish.

[flytire 0]

Once dry, I cannot detect any odor at all.

 

the paragraphs below are from this article http://www.fishbc.com/ronnewman/rainbow.phtml

 

The senses of taste and smell are particularly well developed in the Rainbow Trout. They are better developed than the legendary Bloodhound and about 500 times more sensitive than these senses in a human. It is believed that Rainbow Trout, steelhead and salmon (all of the scientific Order of Oncorhynchus) use taste and smell to help locate the waters of their original spawning streams.

 

A Rainbow Trout can smell the difference between two aquatic plants of the same species that are side by side. It can even taste the difference between two species of Chironomid and thus will have a preference for one species over another. Rainbow Trout are very sensitive to differences in ph, salinity and the differences in amino acids as found in their food sources. It is thought that the Rainbow may even have taste and smell sensors on parts of its body other than in the nostrils and mouth and that these may actually help the trout in locating its food.

[RickZieger 0]

I use Sally Hansens alot. I let the flies dry out overnight on the tying desk.. No problem for the fish.

The people who produce L-lysine will scare the fish off.

 

Rick

[Jaydub 0]

Once dry, I cannot detect any odor at all.

 

the paragraphs below are from this article http://www.fishbc.com/ronnewman/rainbow.phtml

 

The senses of taste and smell are particularly well developed in the Rainbow Trout. They are better developed than the legendary Bloodhound and about 500 times more sensitive than these senses in a human. It is believed that Rainbow Trout, steelhead and salmon (all of the scientific Order of Oncorhynchus) use taste and smell to help locate the waters of their original spawning streams.

 

A Rainbow Trout can smell the difference between two aquatic plants of the same species that are side by side. It can even taste the difference between two species of Chironomid and thus will have a preference for one species over another. Rainbow Trout are very sensitive to differences in ph, salinity and the differences in amino acids as found in their food sources. It is thought that the Rainbow may even have taste and smell sensors on parts of its body other than in the nostrils and mouth and that these may actually help the trout in locating its food.

 

That's fine, but do you think dried head cement has any more effect than all of the other processed materials on the fly or human scent from handling?

[perchjerker 0]

the paragraphs below are from this article http://www.fishbc.com/ronnewman/rainbow.phtml

 

The senses of taste and smell are particularly well developed in the Rainbow Trout. They are better developed than the legendary Bloodhound and about 500 times more sensitive than these senses in a human. It is believed that Rainbow Trout, steelhead and salmon (all of the scientific Order of Oncorhynchus) use taste and smell to help locate the waters of their original spawning streams.

 

A Rainbow Trout can smell the difference between two aquatic plants of the same species that are side by side. It can even taste the difference between two species of Chironomid and thus will have a preference for one species over another. Rainbow Trout are very sensitive to differences in ph, salinity and the differences in amino acids as found in their food sources. It is thought that the Rainbow may even have taste and smell sensors on parts of its body other than in the nostrils and mouth and that these may actually help the trout in locating its food.

 

Citing information from sources such as this is tenuous at best. If for no other reason than there are no references to the sources for his information; making it impossible for one to confirm anything said. One would be wiser to cite the actual scientific literature upon which such claims are ostensibly based. Thus, this citation is not really germane to the subject.

 

Numerous studies, which I will not provide citations to; they can be found on Google, have shown that certain salmonids (Salmon, Trout, Char, etc.) can detect as little as a single molecule of a given substance in the ampulae (nasal capsule) of their nasal system. Does this demonstrate whether or not they can 'actually' smell the nail polish? NO! This is simply because these studies subjected the experimental animals to very specific chemical compounds that did NOT include nail polish. As with humans, it is to be expected that they can more readily detect certain odors better than others. These studies do, however, demonstrate that the innate capacity to detect it is, in fact, there.

[tidewaterfly 0]

I've never had any problems catching fish with flies that had nail polish on the heads, or anything else I've used for that matter.

 

This reminds me of when I did a lot of fur trapping, same type of thing has been written about scents & trapping, and particularly canines, which have very highly developed senses of smell. While I agree that some scents might repel some fish, the main issue is whether or not they associate that scent with something negative. Same holds true for canines. I've caught a lot of foxes, both red & grey, literally 100's and even read that you can't catch them if you leave any human scent or other foreign odor behind, BS! Any animal will at some time be introduced to an unfamiliar scent. If they cannot associate it with danger, or if it has no other negative effect on them, then it should not cause them to shy away. A fox that has had his toes pinched in a trap and escaped, may certainly associate whatever he smells at that time with that experience. Fish could possibly too if they're hooked enough, but I can't say for sure. I think it would depend on the extent of the negative experience & how long the fishes memory really is. There is also the question of whether or not they will associate any scent with the experience or just what they have seen. In other words, the fly itself. Hook a fish on a chartreuse Woolly Bugger enough times, it may not be inclined to strike at that particular fly.

 

It's certainly possible that some chemicals will cause an issue, as kodiaksalmon mentioned, but the many compounds used as head cements in fly tying, if having been used for a long time, are not likely to be among them that will cause a problem.

 

As with trapping, and as kodiaksalmon also mentioned, there is no way to get flies 100% scent free. Every material we use, and our scent will be on a fly. But, that does not mean it will repel the fish.

 

The real test, if you're using nail polish & still catching fish, it's not a problem.

[ikerajala 0]

Thanks for all the great replies!