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siestafred

Do you use "scent" on your flies ?

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So, here's the thing. Sometimes saltwater fishing with flies is just tough.....limited visibility, full moon, bad tides, you name it.

I see guides chumming for Reds and I see on TV fishing shows that swim baits get slathered in Pro Cure to improve catch rates.

Now, I've always been a bit of a purist (read "fly fishing snob") and won't ever fish with live bait or any kind of spin gear no matter what. Sometimes I've out-fished those guys with my flies, but often it's the other way around. Fish do find their food by sight, smell and sound.

But this winter the catching has been tough in the Sarasota area and a guide at a local fishing store talked me into trying some Pro Cure on my flies. Guess what......all of a sudden I'm catching many more fish.

So, is it all good? Or is it "trickery" unsuited to true fly fishing? Is it "cheating"?

What say you?

 

(Oh, has anyone seen any Green Drake "scent" anywhere ??

 

Fred

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Be careful in artificial lure only areas that is illegal! Sometimes.

Very little is illegal in salt water. But I am a firm believer in fishing with artificial bait. No live bait fishing for me ... usually ... sort of.

That being said ... artificial scents count. If it helps you set a few more hooks, so be it. I do like to caution about fish being more prone to swallow a scented lure or fly, so set the hook sooner than unscented if you are CPRing.

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don't worry, because the REAL snobs will tell you that if it is in salt water, it isn't FLY FISHING anyhow.... LOL

 

I am continually, every day, amazed that fly fishermen are the only type of fishermen who not only do not use scent but look on its use as subhuman.

 

They'll do every other crazy thing, including trying to tie and use flies which they construct to imitate plugs, soft plastics, and spinners (!!!) but to put a drop of scent on is crossing the line into heresy.

 

I say, if you want to use it and it is not against your regulations, then proceed, happily.

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Scent is one of the senses that fish use to find prey. If we are imitating prey, why not appeal to more than just the sense of sight. Many people tie flies (OK lurer,) with rattles, or construct the fly to create "sound" that the fish can sense with their lateral lines. Sounds like a winner to me.

 

Yes there are places (fly fishing only,) where the use of scent would be illegal, but these are usually fresh water trout fisheries. I don't see a problem. As you say many guides use a chum trail to attract fish and then have the customers cast flies or artificial lures to fish that have been attracted by the scent trails. Why not just put the scent trail on the fly.

 

I see a marketing opportunity there for scented dubbing, something like "Smelly Dub," or "Smelly Slinky Fiber." Since there are products designed to remove the "human" scent that we get on our flies and lures, why not add a natural scent?

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I see no problems at all with it, but then again, I also regularly use plugs and jigs, including the stinky types like Gulp. I also live or dead bait on occasion so putting scent on a fly is not heresy to me. I have never done it (yet), but that's only because I'm lazy, not out of any moral stance.

 

How is the water down there right now? Up in the Big Bend the fishing is hit and miss. The water is very dark, like coffee because of all the freshwater from the rain. I have done alright with the fly, but the fish seem to be in pockets or schools. I'll get several fish in a row and then nothing for a while. The trout are hitting but the reds are iffy at best

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I couldn't care less what a person does with his spare time and I'm about as far from a snob as you can get, but it is what it is. If you're using a scent, you're bait fishing. Saltwater fly fishing can be tough, but the challenge is a big part of the appeal. I haven't seen a fish yet that I can't nail if I can get the RIGHT fly under his nose without scaring the bejeezus out of him. But that's just me - I take pride in my skills because I paid my dues and didn't take shortcuts. Like I said, to each, his own. As long as it's legal and you feel you need some kind of an edge, why should you care what anybody else thinks?

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Hey Fred...if your local regs don't prevent you from using scent, there is no problem. Just make sure you wash your hands...don't want no Reds grabbing on to your fingers! LOL

 

Tight lines...

 

Thom

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I know from years of bait fishing that scent alone will not make a days fishing. Somedays the scent you have is not the one the fish fancy. Some days a pike takes a lovely oily bait. Other days you need a completely oil free bait.

For me fly fishing is just that. Using a fly to tempt a fish. I use bait, spinners, lures etc at times and I would use a smelly bait if I wanted to use bait. When I use a fly I want the fish to take a fly.

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I'm noy a purest either. I just think the stuff is a mess to deal with. It gets on everything, the boat, your hands, your sunglasses. I think it would ruin fly boxes and other flies too. No denying it works though, if you soaked your socks in gulp i have no doubt you would have a school of trout nibbling at your toes.

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if you soaked your socks in gulp i have no doubt you would have a school of trout nibbling at your toes.

Skimmer, thanks a bunch for revealing my secret sock method. You swore you'd keep quiet.

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I say do what makes you happy… If I have tried every thing in my box to include heavy flies on intermediate line with no luck I'll pull out spinning gear if it's in the boat and see what happens.

 

I enjoy all types of fishing, I even keep a cast net (just don't tell anyone). My wife loves to fish live bait, plastics or gulp and to keep things cohesive in the boat there are days when she is with me I will do the same to make her day more enjoyable.

 

My favorite method of fishing over structure in deep water used to be a speargun and I'll go flounder gigging at the drop of a hat!

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When I was diving for shellfish, I used to tie a Hawaiian sling to one of my baskets, and I'd usually grab dinner on the way back in. Not exactly fly fishing, but free meals were more than welcome back in those days of destitution and despair.

post-281-0-08150700-1396367883_thumb.jpg

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Spearing is all about the meal, no shame just good eats. Plan on getting back at it this summer for sheephead.

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