Scented Flies

[JSzymczyk 0]

Wait a sec...

 

 

As for scents they do help - a guy once rubbed an eel's smile on a fly and it started to produce far more fish than had been caught at the same spot before.

 

 

I've tried that and had bad results. The most aggravating part was telling enough jokes to keep the eel smiling, and in the end I never did totally rub his smile onto my fly. It was frustrating, but better to try then fail than never try at all.

 

A #8 brown woolly worm with a squirt of crawfish scent is medicine for carp... All the other "kinds" of fishermen worry like hell about scent, but not fly fishermen. I don't know why. There is a pretty good article I read many years ago about this. Dave Whitlock, who really had a lot of influence in the rebirth of bass fishing with a fly rod, just about got excommunicated from some fly fishing club because he said he was not opposed to putting a little attractant scent on bass flies.

 

Watch any of the weekend morning bass winchers on TV, and it's scent scent scent scent. I was at BPS in Montgomery yesterday, and they must have had 200 different scents. Then there are all the scented soft plastics, power bait, Gulp, etc. That stuff WORKS. I never have done it, but I bet rubbing a little power bait into a nymph wouldn't hurt for trout...

 

So why are most fly fishermen opposed to putting scent on flies? I don't usually do it either, but in certain circumstances I have.

[Dave in Phuket 0]

Hey there JSzymczyk,

 

Well, I certainly don't want to get excommunicated :devil: ... wait a minute, there ain't no ding-dang fly fishermen here to do that to me. I'm so lonely

 

And, the eels here have nasty teeth. I wouldn't trust any smiling eels any further than I could throw 'em.

 

The way I see it, if I'm releasing the fish I catch it shouldn't matter that much really. I'd still prefer to catch fish without doing it, but if they ain't a bitin' maybe a squirt or a rub isn't that bad of a idea.

 

Thanks,

Dave

[flytyingscotsman 0]

 

One aspect of fly fishing is giving the fish a sporting chance.

 

It's about fooling the fish with an imitation of it's food.

 

 

In my opinion applying attractant to a fly makes it bait fishing.

 

Don't get me wrong - I don't have a problem with bait fishing or spinning or any other method

of fishing, as long as the fish commission rules are being followed, then to each his own.

 

 

 

[Dnthmn 0]

Or, what I could do, and what I was thinking, is make my own scent. The Thais already have quite a few food items that stink like crazy and I might just try them to see.

 

I was gonna tell you to try thai fish sauce but it looks like you were already thinking the same thing :hyst:

 

If you do end up trying it let me know how it works.

 

[Dave in Phuket 0]

I was gonna tell you to try thai fish sauce but it looks like you were already thinking the same thing :hyst:

 

If you do end up trying it let me know how it works.

 

Fish sauce is so salty that I wonder whether freshwater species would like it or not. I hope to try it out soon though and if it works I will certainly let you know.

 

Thanks,

Dave

[PapE 0]

While touring Vietnam in May of last year our bus traveled a road that followed a river through the Ashua Valley and we saw young boys fishing and wading and we stopped to take pictures. They fished with a long pole with what looked like a net resembling a tennis racket strapped to the end. They saw us and held up a fish that was at least 24" so I asked the guide if they were netting the fish to which he replied "no - net made of wire, battery in rucksack - fish float". Where's a game warden when ya need one!

[Philly 0]

Dave, I've got to ask is Phuket pronounced the way it's spelled. A co-worker who is located in Singapore tells me it is.

 

As far as far as scented baits go. I stuffed some flies in a bag of minnow scented Power Baits a couple of months before I went up to Ontario one year. I didn't notice any difference between them and the unscented flies in the numbers of smallies caught. Though I like the idea of scenting carp flies. I used either anisette or vanilla flavoring in my carp baits. They seemed to like it.

[FlaFly 0]

Philly... Dave has been offline since 2008.

[vicente 0]

Guess we'll never find out if Thai fish sauce works.

[FlaFly 0]

I can tell you what I told before. When I was a kid I would take a gallon wide-mouthed jar and make a plastic funnel to insert in the mouth.... making a minnow trap. I'd put some corn meal in the jar, and a few drops of anise oil which I got from the drugstore. Put the jar in the water on its side, and you could see a film of oil spreading out in the water. The minnows would litrally flock to the oil and go into the funnel. So I can vouch that scents work.

 

Go put some thai fish sauce in the water and see if it draws some minnows.

[Crackaig 0]

There is a legend about a man who wanted to try to catch a burbot. The burbot is thought to be all but extinct in the UK though it is plentiful in the northern regions of Scandinavia. One evening this man was wandering alongside the River Ouse looking into the water for any sign of his elusive quarry. Just as the sun set he was approached by a stranger, who fixed him with a long stare from his one good eye. After a few moments the stranger said,

"Nethen." Being a Yorkshireman and so as not to let an early advantage go in the conversation he replied,

"Nethen." After another long silence the stranger said,

"A hears thi wants t' catch 'burbot." Holding the stare from the stranger he said,

"Aye a does."

"Next week, when t' moons a full meet 'committee by t' owd mill up t' stream, a' midnight." As the stranger finished speaking a fish rose with a loud splash. My friend looked around, as any fisherman would. When he looked back the stranger had gone.

 

Over the next days the normal routine dragged as he waited to meet the committee. Finally the moon rose full and the man wrapped himself in his warmest clothing and set out for the old mill. A light was shining from the ruins as he approached. Arriving he saw it was from a small fire, with a kettle set to boil and the making for tea on a stone close by. Looking around he could see no one, He checked his watch, two minutes to midnight. The whistle from the kettle made him jump. He took the kettle from its hook and filled the teapot. He poured out the brown liquid into the chipped enamel mug, added milk. Then he sat and waited. Suddenly a voice rang out,

"Order, order, wi 'as a fisherman tha' fancies catchin' 'burbot." Looking around himself my friend could see dark shapes against the night sky. He could make out no detail except they all seemed to be wearing flat caps. Of what followed my friend would not speak in any detail. I gathered that oaths were taken, both dark and terrible should he betray the "brotherhood o' t' burbot". After making his solemn promises he was given the burbot flee, and a tatty piece of paper with the recipe for the elixir, in which the fly must be steeped for three days, before he made his one and only cast.The fly was black, very old and very tatty. He put it into his fly vice and whipped over the head where the thread was loose

 

For days he worked on mixing up his elixir, working secretly in his shed, not just because his oaths said he must, but he feared divorce if his wife caught him making the concoction in their kitchen. By the time it was ready it had to be kept in an air tight glass jar. His children voluntarily walked to school, as neither would brave the smell to get their bicycles out of the shed. He will not divulge the full recipe, but I discovered the base of the mixture was Theakston's Old Peculiar, various other ingredients including Pontefract Cakes and pickling vinegar were added before being distilled, and filtered through mashed doc leaves.

 

Eventually midsummer's eve dawned. The day of the cast. The fly had been soaking for the required 3 days. The day was spent selecting rod reel and line, Tying up leaders, then double and treble checking everything. After putting the kids to bed, he kissed his wife, and set out for the river. He was assured that he would know the right moment to make his cast. The air temperature dropped as the sun went down, and a wispy mist began to rise curling from the water. He waited. Just as the last rays of the sun sprang from the horizon he knew now was the time to make his cast.

 

Squatting on the bank he stripped line from the reel, Started to lengthen line into the cast. When the rod was loaded he made his cast. The line shot out, turning the fly over perfectly, it landed with hardly a ripple and sank below the surface. With shaking hand he mended the line as the fly swung across the current. Then he pulled the line, stripping it in in sharp foot long pulls. On the third strip everything stopped. His heart was pounding in his throat, as he lifted the rod to set the hook. Then all hell broke loose. the fish darted all over the pool, then settled into a steady downstream run. Slowly and carefully he worked the fish upstream, back towards him. Giving line when he needed. Suddenly the fish ran upstream, toward the top of the pool the fish leapt. This first sight of the fish confirmed he was attached to a burbot. At the apex of its jump the fish threw the hook. Then disappeared into the depths, never to be seen again.

 

The experience hasn't changed him much, but on the odd sea trout trip we have together he will look at the sun as it drops below the horizon. As darkness falls. he is lost in thoughts of the burbot.

 

 

The moral is scent may attract the fish more, but it is still up to you to do all the rest.

Cheers,

C.

[gunpowderleader 0]

For sure check your local regulations, a lot of place regulate anything scent emitting as bait even though it is artificial. That could get you in a jam, if you are not 100% on the regs

[Philly 0]

I've been tying some small bait fish patterns using Senyo Laser dubbing and coating the body on the hook shank with UV resin, miniature surf candies. I put the completed ones in one of my fly boxes and closed the lid. I opened it the other day to add some new ones and the flies reeked of UV resin. I hadn't completely cured one. I ended up giving them all a second cure, but they still smelled. I had some anisette extract left over from making pizzelles at Christmas so I put a couple of drops in a flat container filled with water and dumped the flies in. Let them set for a bit, then laid them out to dry. They all now a subtle anisette scent to them. It will probably wash out after I fish them a couple of times, but I'm curious as to whether I'll get more hits on them before the scent washes out. At least they smell better than they did before their scented bath.