|
|
| I will be fishing Big St Germain Lake starting Sept 16 thru 22. I use skunk pee (bought in the deer hunting portion of the sports store) (can't hold the skunk still long enough to get my own) and spray it on as a fish attractant on my skunktails since they are a good bait for this lake. Even though my fellow muskie fisherman chastise me for using this since the smell does get a little strong as the day progresses, I believe it works. Caught a 52 incher on this method! By the way, do not spill on or in a buddy's boat. It costs you many beers and brandy manhattens to get back in the boat for the future!
Two questions 1: Do you think this works or am I just crazy? 2: Do you use fish attractants and which ones do you use?
Thanks!
:)] |
|
| |
|
| While I can't say that it hurts your chances, I don't know that it actually helps. With the sensitivity of fishes" smelling measured in parts per million, when I see TV fisherman spraying scent on baits to the point of saturation, it would seem that they are creating such a slick of scent that a fish couldn't locate the source! How would a muskie identify the skunk urine? Is there an excess of swimming skunks in your part of the world? Your bait still gives off vibration which would seem to be the majority of the attractant. |
|
| |
|
| If you are catching 52" fish, you are certainly not crazy. Congratulations - that is quite a feat!
I have gone through spurts where I have used attractants. I currently am not using any. I was using BANG (crawfish scent) quite a bit at one point in time. So much so, that I would actually buy it by the case.
My Dad uses WD-40. Cracks me up until he catches a fish on it. Then, I usually have to steal a couple of squirts.
I am not sure whether the scent is doing anything for you or not except for keeping your excitement and attitude at a high level. Important keys to success. Keep doing what your doing. Any more stoies of 50+" fish and we all will be using skunk scent (LOL)! |
|
| |
|
| Smelly, I mean Skunktail: I have experminted with scents off and on over the years. From some of the reactions I have gotten, I can assure you they can smell! A mixture of Dr. Juice and Berkley Strike got the weirdest reactions, but they only followed in a LARGE S pattern behind the lure with out hitting. Used to do well with a product called Strike 7. At the very least, scent helps to mask foreign oders and can't hurt.
Muskie regards,
Larry Ramsell
www.larryramsell.com |
|
| |
|
| I tried both Berkley Strike and Dr. Juice some years ago for 2 seasons. I noticed absolutely no impact on trolling baits. I did see some marginal increase in agressive followers willing to hit on a figure 8 or L at boatside, but again, I stress it was an extremely marginal improvement. I found the Berkley product was too fluid, while the Dr. Juice (especially if you refrigerated it) would go quite thick, and tended to stay with the bait much longer. The stuff makes one heck of a stinky gooey mess of your tacklebox though!!!!!
I don't believe muskies are scent feeders. Unless they smell something that turns them off that is. The recent study about strike behaviour showed that muskies that were both visually and lateral line deprived would not strike out at a minnow when it was mere inches away. Surely they could smell it. They hadn't been fed in a week, so it is a safe bet they were hungry. So your luck with skunk may be just that. I have a buddy who swears by WD40. He catches a few fish, but nothing that would make me believe that it is the WD40 rather than some modest skill and lake knowledge.
Steve Wickens |
|
| |
|
| Thanks for the feedback. Not sure what I will be doing for sure this year on the scent. Interesting and mixed views. [:bigsmile:] |
|
| |
|
| My friends dad told us about WD-40 as an attractant many years ago and I can say I have never caught a muskie with it on my lures, but it is down right deadly for walleyes and smallmouth on the Wisconsin River system with twister tails and small cranks. I don't us it anymore due to it's toxicity in the water. |
|
| |
|
| I for one have always liked using natural cover scents when fishing for Muskies.I have used WD-40 on Spoons for Walleye and yes it works.But for Muskies my two favorite are:The left over Walleye slime in the bottom of the livewell after a successful day on the water,I throw in my favorite Musky Crankbaits for a basting ride back to the dock.But the one thing that has definately worked the best for me over the years has been the following;after catching a Musky and your hands are all slimey,wipe the slime on the crankbait that is on the opposite side of the boat!I can't even keep count how many times this has produced another Musky from the opposite side
crankbait that you slimed.Is it that you just masked the other unatural scents that were present or is there something present in the Muskies slime that they release when they are on the attack? Capt. Larry D. Jones |
|
| |
