|
|
Posts: 2865
Location: Brookfield, WI | I've been doing some research as part of the plan. I recently watched a DVD by Bob Mehsikomer about musky vision, taste, lateral line, etc. In the section on smell he talked about how different fish have different smells. He believes that muskies use their sense of smell to target their favorite prey. That makes sense to me. He also said that muskies leave their own scent in the water. Again, I'm with you Bob. Then it got kind of weird. He said that by smelling the vegetation that sticks to his baits, he can tell if muskies have been utilizing a piece of structure.
So how sensitive are your sniffers? Anybody do this or know anyone that does?
Do any of you take the time to stop and smell the cabbage weeds?
Thanks
Kevin
I now know a little more thanks to the plan. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 216
Location: Belleville, WI | My buddy and I still laugh at that part of the video. What a crock! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 158
Location: Eagan, MN | I always thought Bob M. looked like he had a little bloodhound in him. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1536
Location: God's Country......USA..... Western Wisconsin | I know of a couple of really good sticks out there that believe this as well. I find it kind of "fishy" to say the least. But who knows, hounds can smell things you and I can't maybe these guys have better sniffers than we have. I know that they both have caught a lot of fish and won many tourneys over the years. Doesn't matter if true or not as long as you believe it yourself and it gives you confidence on the spot. It's good for a chuckle if nothing else. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 32934
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I guess this one confounds me just a bit; muskies DO stink, but what would that tell you that fishing there wouldn't?I know the WATER actually can smell from fish in the shallows, I used to fish at night for 'eyes alot, and one can smell a 'fishy' odor on very calm nights when there's lots of fish in the shallows. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 8834
| Come on now...
I'll give you that each fish has its own smell. Any of us could probably tell a bass from a pike from a musky blindfolded just by the smell, but smelling the weeds on your line to find lingering musky scent? |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1916
Location: Greenfield, WI | I've been doing this for years and years, smelling the weeds and announcing that there are muskies close..........Of course, that was little more than wishful thinking and a self generated dose of PMA!.......
........I wish I could have come out with my DVD first!
Edited by Steve Van Lieshout 2/2/2006 1:41 PM
|
|
| |
|
| I see dead people, but love the smell of musky in the morning |
|
| |
|
Posts: 366
| "I love the smell of muskies in the morning, it smells like....
Victory!"
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 1023
Location: Lafayette, IN | Ben Clendenning told me a couple of years ago that he and Pete Maina did some pretty serious "comparison fishing" (for lack of a better way to explain it) in an effort to see if "scenting" a bait made a marked difference in catch rates. If my memory serves me right, they both used the same bait at the same time, one scented, one not and got more favorable result over time with the unscented baits. Not very scientific I'll agree but I think they were just as curious about the musky's "sense of smell" as we seem to be. I believe smell is the weakest tool a musky uses to locate prey. I think the lateral line and sight are the primary tools in their box.
Just my spin on this topic.... |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2361
| Hmm, smell musky on the weeds? I think most people can smell shad in the water, and have heard several fellows down south tell me they could smell a brim bed, but I never could smell a brim bed.
It is possible that there is a different smell of 'LIVE" cabbage, that might be different from "DEAD" cabbage beds, and it may have to do with bug populations or the amount of algae collected on the stems, I don't know. I have often theorized that it would be possible to train a dog to "sniff fish", and in fact may have read about somebody doing it, can't remember, but it seems like a very plausible theory, especially for a dogs nose.
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 2024
| Bob was #$%^ when he made that statement. That is one of the most ludicrous things I've ever heard!
Now, smelling sulfur dioxide just before turnover is a different story. Anyone that tells me with any seriousness they can smell fish in the water (themselves being above water), has lost their marbles. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 32934
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Actually, I WILL say there are times at night when one can smell strong fish odor in the shallows, and when one turns the spotlight on, there the fish are! Not Muskies, though. And, Bob was saying he could smell the fish on the WEEDS, not just sniffing the air above the water. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 214
Location: Central Iowa | next time your out, grab a handful of cabbage and put it in your livewell after a thurough test sniff. Then barring a catch of a muskie, take the cabbage out and rub it on the muskie and after you release her you can sniff test the cabbage...sounds scientific to me. Oh ya, keep a clump of placebo in the livewell to compare. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2865
Location: Brookfield, WI | I'm glad that Lardonastick's response confirmed that this was really said on the tape. I watched that section three or four times before I posted to make sure I understood it correctly.
Kevin
I think the plan might make a difference in the early going. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2024
| Steve,
Maybe it's because I broke my nose a few years ago and can't smell much anyway. I'll believe it when I smell it! lol!
I will say that I've eaten a little cabbage before in an attempt to be at one with the lake... Man, was that not a good idea! Talk about... nevermind.
Edited by esox50 2/2/2006 4:15 PM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 364
Location: Kentucky | Yeah, I think Vol. II of that DVD is coming out where muskie flatulence is analyzed. Seems there are wolf packs of 'em following schooling baitfish up until one of them farts and the pack is overwhelmed by the stench and forced to break up. Advanced anglers track the loner with echo location sonar used for whales. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 32934
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | One study indicated the muskies were moving in wolf packs up on the bars after dark, in a 'zig zag' pattern. The esteemeed researcher found that behavior to be....'spooky'. I'll not be snorting cabbage. But that, I must admit, is me. |
|
| |
