Northwest Fishing Reports

Why do we get obsessed with human scent. Do fish really fear humans even though they have lil to no contact with humans whether they are raised in pens or native breeding.Ive seen guys use Anise or garlic to hide our scents. Why? When are these fish in contact with humans other then being caught.In fact Hatchery fish should like the human scent. The people who throw fish meal to the ponds should have scent on the food thus fish should like human scent . Its all over the shrimp meal thats fed to them.Even if you smoke ,why should fish avoid this when smoke isnt in their everyday life. Whoever said our scents scare fish. Is it a proven fact or just a money making ploy.??

Yes yes yes very proven. Our scent scares the fish more than dog or bear scent.

The culprit that is most often associated with repelling fish is the amino acid L-Serine. Studies have found that the animals with the highest levels of the chemical are humans, dogs and bears. In turn, this chemical was used in various experiments on rivers in BC and found to repel migrating salmon and steelhead. How much you emit at any given time depends on several factors and also varies among each individual, so it is best to take precautions when handling your gear. We don't come across bears all that often but many of us have dogs. The last thing I do before I leave the house to go fishing is wash my hands with Lemon Joy and make sure not to touch the dogs before I go. I also keep some Lemon Joy on the boat and will occasionally use it to wash my hands and gear. I'm not a big believer in covering up bad odors with scent. I have a really acute sense of smell and all air fresheners, deodorants and perfumes do is add to an already bad smell. Clean your gear thoroughly and add natural bait and/or scents if you can and you will have more luck when fishing. As for the hatchery fish, perhaps they get conditioned to the human scent while they are being raised. Probably what makes them so easy to catch!

I am not completely convinced that my "Human Scent" is enough to scare off the fish. I make a habit of washing my hands before I leave to go fishing, but I find it hard to believe that my smell has not returned by the time I get to the water. I mainly do it to insure that I don't have some foreign substance on my hands that will actually scare the fish. If I gas up on the way to the water, I find a place to wash my hands to make sure the gas smell is gone.

Another thing that makes me wonder about the scent thing is that if I am bait fishing from the boat and I set my rod down to shall I say, relieve myself of excess bodily fluids, it NEVER fails, that's when I get a bite. Therefore it stands to reason that some human scents such as recycled Coors Light, may actually even entice the fish to bite. Now that's funny.

Happy Fishing

i havent ever used gloves or anything to remove scent and done pretty well.

Despite any studys, I have never had a problem with my "human scent" scaring fish. In fact I don't use any kind of scent period. I use my saliva to wet my line while tying knots, no problems there. I tie flies and jigs for trout, salmon and steelhead, I'm constantly touching the feathers, marabou or rabbit fur and blowing on them while tying, no problems there either. I won't put scent on my jigs or flys because the oils foul up the material rendering it worthless in my opinion. I won't put scent on my cured eggs or fresh sandshrimp because I don't want man made scent/chemicals on my natural bait and I'm always touching my baits and gear, no problems there either. I fish plugs, spoons, and spinners as well never putting scent on them either, I still catch fish. So, in a nutshell, I consistantly catch fish on a regular basis without scent and I have not had a problem with my human scent scaring fish.

maybe some people smell more than others.

Never thought of it before, but I always use saliva to moisten my line when I tie a knot. It might be that scent is one of those "10%" things that improve or decrease your odds slightly.

I rarely used scent up until about 8 years ago but I usually kept my gear clean and used bait when I could. I have found that without a doubt that a lure with scent\bait will outfish one without. Not everyone is the same when it comes to body odor. Some folks could use a shower twice a day while others can go without for a few days and not spook deer that are downwind from them. If you are happy with your fishing success then by all means keep doing what you have been doing. However, if you want to increase your catch rate, cleaning your gear,taking some handling precautions and using scent is worth a shot.

My pet fish use to nibble at my finger thinking it was fish food. Who knows! I use scent to increase the odds of catching fish.

What I was thinking is how do fish know a human scent? Other then when they are fed in ponds ,they throw handfulls of pellets in the rearing ponds. This to me would make fish like the human scent. Human= Food. I too use spit when tieing leaders and especially in tieing hooks.I put a good goober down to not fray the line while tieing a hook. As far as relieving ones self I dont know. Last year while removing kelp from my motor I got a good slam. That falls under Murphy's Law.
As for the scent thing I still wonder. G-mans explanation was convincing . But I wonder just how complex this would be for humans. Dogs and bears I cant speak for but humans have so many variations in bodily odors. If you are Diabetic and burn no sugars you would be different scent then the guy who just ate 3 krispy kreme donuts. Medications would make a difference too. So so many variations in humans.
These are the things Racfish was thinking last week fishing the Sky.This is a direct result of plunking and being bored. LOL

So then there's that episode of Man vs. Wild where Bear Grylls wants to catch a shark with his bare hands from the beach. He pees in the water, and that attracts the sharks in close and he pounces on one!
My Dad is a firm believer of "chumming" for trout while we troll. Similar to Aj's Dad's experience, the action nearly always gets hotter as he starts peeing off the back of the boat...and my wife wonders why she doesn't get invited...

coretron22 wrote:So then there's that episode of Man vs. Wild where Bear Grylls wants to catch a shark with his bare hands from the beach. He pees in the water, and that attracts the sharks in close and he pounces on one!
My Dad is a firm believer of "chumming" for trout while we troll. Similar to Aj's Dad's experience, the action nearly always gets hotter as he starts peeing off the back of the boat...and my wife wonders why she doesn't get invited...

What if I put a fat New York steak on your plate and it smelled "different" and non-natural? Or a big glazed donut and it smelled absolutely nothing like a donut? Would you eat it? Some people are adventurous to try it, some aren't. Same way with fish and strange scents...

When they say 10% of the fisherman catch 90% of the fish, they aren't exaggerating by that much. You'll find the guys who catch the most fish are borderline neurotic when it comes to detail, everything from exact precise location, boat control, speed, their electronics, "matching the hatch", even the organization of their boat and gear, their offering (bait, lure, whatever), scents, and everything else.

We spend so much time, money and effort into trying to hook a fish or three on each outing yet people skimp on a few key areas.. What does a little 1oz Smelly Jelly bottle cost? $3 and it lasts you all season. Use it. Clean your gear. Wash your hands. Keep your boat clean and hands free of strange odors. Scent helps. Why would you not want maximize your chances at catching fish??

Same goes with terminal gear. People go cheap and buy cheapo swivels or hooks for $2 instead of paying $4 for good, quality hooks or swivels....When the hook is arguably the most important aspect of catching fish, why save $2 when it comes down to something so crucial as having a quality, sharp, durable hook or a dependable line that won't break because you bought that blue mono crap from the bottom shelf at Fred Meyer instead of a decent spool?

Makes no sense to me that fisherman spend all this money on nice boats and gear that they don't do the small things to maximize their "catching" chances...

I don't use scent as it tastes bad when I eat my pototo chips.



Ok, ok. It works.

I have a question (possibly a stupid question) about all this scent stuff.

Most of the rivers have Selective Gear Rules which says, "Only unscented artificial flies or lures."
How are you geting around this rule? I also see posts on some forums about using eggs in these selective gear waters. Are these fisherman just ignoring the rule?

Thanks, just wanted to know if I can cover up my foul human scent in these rivers.

Mike
In the Pacific Northwet

ne14abeer wrote:I have a question (possibly a stupid question) about all this scent stuff.

Most of the rivers have Selective Gear Rules which says, "Only unscented artificial flies or lures."
How are you geting around this rule? I also see posts on some forums about using eggs in these selective gear waters. Are these fisherman just ignoring the rule?

Thanks, just wanted to know if I can cover up my foul human scent in these rivers.

Mike
In the Pacific Northwet

Can't use any scent to cover up odors in selective gear rule areas. In these areas it is especially important to clean your gear and wash your hands. Not only can stale\rancid scent put off the fish, you can get fined for it if enforcement catches you using a lure with some stank on it. Can't use eggs in these areas either, check the post and you may find that the person was using an egg imitation like a yarn ball or a beaded lure of some type.

When I brought this up I wasnt really minimizing or maximizing catching ratios. I was thinking more on the science behind the scent theory. Like A9 said who I totally agree with. I use smelly jelly alot. I even put some on my downrigger ball. I have Jellies for both salt and fresh water. I was more wondering why the fish would not like our scent. For a hatchery steel almost everything would have a human scent from feed pellets to equipment in the pools. G-Man had a great explanation for the generalized steelhead species.I was thinking along the lines of scent presented to Native and Hatchery fish and the difference between them if known.I re- read this twice and it made sense to me. Any care to speculate on the differences if any?

I would think it is part genetic programming and natural selection. If a bear stands in a river, the fish who smell and react by avoiding the bear have a better chance of surviving and reproducing. Same thing can be said for the current population of fish found in the lakes and rivers we frequent. As these fish are exposed to our scent during the act of fishing, it continues to re-enforce their built in negative reaction. Now, some species of fish seem to be less concerned with human scent than others. Panfish and catfish don't seem to mind the human scent but do react favorably to natural scents and bait, most likely has something to do with their evolution.

I never once used any type of sent this season while salmon fishing. I brought home 29 kings.
I use my saliva when tying my knots, doesnt seem to affect it. And im sure after a # of casts the scent would wear off anyways, right? Your hooks you buy probably have human scent when the Hook company puts then in the bag or box they come in, right ? And as stated above, the hatchery fish have delt with human scent when they were still fry in the hatchery.
I dont think Human Scent affects it.
Just my .02

There has been a test run many times by college students to test this, very popular field study test for fisheries mgt students.

Fish are caught at the mouth of a river, have balloons attached by tags and are kept in a pen till there are sufficient numbers to test.
Testers are placed upstream a significant distance from the catch area.
When the tester sees the balloons coming near them they put either dog, bear or human scent in the water.
In the tests I've seen the result for, dog scent would make the fish turn and run a good 100 yards downstream, bear would repel them a good 200 to 300 yards and human would send them down stream at least a quarter mile.
Yes everyone has varying amounts of L-Serine that we secrete so keep it clean and smoke cigars to keep the smell off your hands....... Oh yeah keep your lures clean too. PS urine had an even more pronounced effect on the fish.


PPS: I know a lot of you have your own opinion but this is fact not opinion. If you don't believe me you can look up the studies, there have been many published. Have fun.