Silver Horde Salmon Scenter
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Waste of money. My buddy ("Quantum" on this board] bought that and the entire bag was gone in one days fishing. He didn't hook anymore on his side than I did on mine without it. And as I recall, they're surprisingly expensive. Tdown:
Actually, this is not the type of product you can "test" by using it only on one side of the boat or the other. It releases scent from the downrigger ball area which disperses in back of the boat. The ingredients are similar to the feed at the hatchery. I use it on blackmouth on one of the center downriggers. For storage after fishing, just put it in a ziplock for the next trip.
Spud
Spud
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I've tried them but I wasn't really that impressed with the idea. You could probably do the same with a bunch of mashed up herring and some herring oil inside a nylon stocking.
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I have not noticed much diff with Artificial scent , I have noticed a slice of herring in a hoochie Versus Other people not having it made a diff , I also noticed that when I was Jigging for BM My buddy noticed more hits when I hadv artificial scent on My lure , I didn't get as many hits , So I THINK artificial scent May attract them but ,up close its just not right , Fish smell in way less parts per Million than even a dog , So I think they are hard to trick , My dad Mostly believes in herring for salmon in the salt , I can hardly remember fishing with anything else , except green hoochies and a flasher
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does it heip with marked vs unmarked?
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The scent bags are made up of freeze dried herring from what I rememeber. Like it was said. I don't believe it really doesn't draw it to one side of the boat or the other, but just a scent path in the water to spread out, to draw them to the boat. I use a lot of oils scents and think they work. I know they do for halibut. But halibut are just pigs anyway. I think these bait containers or salmon scenters would really work well halibut fishing the straits. I dump lots of different kinds of scents on mine out there and we have been pretty successful.
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The idea behind it was good but I didn't see a differance or improvement.
What's inside the bags is the food that is fed to the fish at the hachery. Soylent Green, LOL. I tried them and made some of my own and like I said I couldn't tell a differance. I do use some of the fish food in my shrimp bait though. Differant types will dissolve at a different rate. The pellets designed for fry are smaller and softer so they dissolve faster for digestion then the larger harder stuff made for the broodstock. The two major suppliers for our area are Bio-Oregon and Skrettings (Moore-Clark) if your looking to buy some to make your own 'scenters.'
What's inside the bags is the food that is fed to the fish at the hachery. Soylent Green, LOL. I tried them and made some of my own and like I said I couldn't tell a differance. I do use some of the fish food in my shrimp bait though. Differant types will dissolve at a different rate. The pellets designed for fry are smaller and softer so they dissolve faster for digestion then the larger harder stuff made for the broodstock. The two major suppliers for our area are Bio-Oregon and Skrettings (Moore-Clark) if your looking to buy some to make your own 'scenters.'
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I think it's the same concept as getting excited when you smell creamed peas in a baby food jar. Tdown:
I agree with Doc's quote -
Preferably in the form of the freshest non-frozen quality herring you can get! After trying those first, then start augmenting by injecting QUALITY genuine baitfish oils into the next herring to try. Dat be herring oil itself, to add a larger same scent trail. I also like injecting squid oil, tuna oil, and sardine oil, in that order of preference (squid is the "Fillet Mignon" of da sea, and produces accordingly in both saltwater and lower fresh water large river holes). If still no bites after trying different depths and presentation speeds then I try either a little WD40, or other tricky solvents that sometimes crack open the lockjawed fish. ... IMEO -- Steve Hanson
P.S. - I don't know the Washington saltwater fishing regs very well, but isn't bait chumming illegal? ... In Oregon no fresh water bait or bait oil or bait mulch chumming is allowed. It's only allowed for a few specific saltwater fisheries. ... I'm reading here there is freeze dried herring in those innocent looking little balls, and some other ingredients. Where are they legal, if at all?
P.S. II - For any of you that had difficulty pronouncing 'Fillet Mignon' above, it's the same as that top cut of beef steak, pronounced "phil-let mig non", ( with mig sounding like pig, ya dig ). Glad I could be of some help to ya's fokes. :shock:
wink:
.... For my 2 cents worth:
Preferably in the form of the freshest non-frozen quality herring you can get! After trying those first, then start augmenting by injecting QUALITY genuine baitfish oils into the next herring to try. Dat be herring oil itself, to add a larger same scent trail. I also like injecting squid oil, tuna oil, and sardine oil, in that order of preference (squid is the "Fillet Mignon" of da sea, and produces accordingly in both saltwater and lower fresh water large river holes). If still no bites after trying different depths and presentation speeds then I try either a little WD40, or other tricky solvents that sometimes crack open the lockjawed fish. ... IMEO -- Steve Hanson
P.S. - I don't know the Washington saltwater fishing regs very well, but isn't bait chumming illegal? ... In Oregon no fresh water bait or bait oil or bait mulch chumming is allowed. It's only allowed for a few specific saltwater fisheries. ... I'm reading here there is freeze dried herring in those innocent looking little balls, and some other ingredients. Where are they legal, if at all?
P.S. II - For any of you that had difficulty pronouncing 'Fillet Mignon' above, it's the same as that top cut of beef steak, pronounced "phil-let mig non", ( with mig sounding like pig, ya dig ). Glad I could be of some help to ya's fokes. :shock:
wink:
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Personally I think bait scent works no matter how what kind you use. The pellets are made from baitfish scent. They are made from herring. They are not going to bring fish to the boat that are not there. This would be a tough test to do, not knowing if fish are in the area. I know it can't hurt.
Scent is two-fold.
1. It covers human scent
2. It can be used as an attractant.
My salmon catch ratio went way up when I started using scent. WD-40 is one of my favorites on top of all of the rest. One thing I like to do is cut open the fish I catch and examine the stomach contents. If there are Sardines in the stomach, I switch to that. If Halibut have shrimp in the stomachs, I change to that too. This works really well.
The bait pellets are supposed to disappear. If they don't then they are not putting out the scent. I was on the WDFW Shrimp board and we got a lot of info from the commercials on crabbing and shrimping. When us sporties use the bait pellets, that are essentially the same thing as the salmon scenter, only bigger. For them to work, they need to break down slowly so they keep drawing in the shrimp for long soaks. Now that we have the shortened days, You need to break them down so they disperce the scent quicker. That is the reason the salmon scenter is smaller pellets. You can also squirt them with your favorite scent too.
Scent is a weird thing. I run different oils too in scenters. If the oil is thick, it really thickens when it hits the water. It comes out in blobs in high 40 to low 50 degree water. To thin of oil leaks out before it gets down. Thin oil in the pellets seems for it to hold and disperse out slowly. You can put scent sacks or capsules on your bottom fishing rigs too.
Scent is two-fold.
1. It covers human scent
2. It can be used as an attractant.
My salmon catch ratio went way up when I started using scent. WD-40 is one of my favorites on top of all of the rest. One thing I like to do is cut open the fish I catch and examine the stomach contents. If there are Sardines in the stomach, I switch to that. If Halibut have shrimp in the stomachs, I change to that too. This works really well.
The bait pellets are supposed to disappear. If they don't then they are not putting out the scent. I was on the WDFW Shrimp board and we got a lot of info from the commercials on crabbing and shrimping. When us sporties use the bait pellets, that are essentially the same thing as the salmon scenter, only bigger. For them to work, they need to break down slowly so they keep drawing in the shrimp for long soaks. Now that we have the shortened days, You need to break them down so they disperce the scent quicker. That is the reason the salmon scenter is smaller pellets. You can also squirt them with your favorite scent too.
Scent is a weird thing. I run different oils too in scenters. If the oil is thick, it really thickens when it hits the water. It comes out in blobs in high 40 to low 50 degree water. To thin of oil leaks out before it gets down. Thin oil in the pellets seems for it to hold and disperse out slowly. You can put scent sacks or capsules on your bottom fishing rigs too.
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DBA Apprasier, You made me laugh. You mention using baitfish for scent.
One day when my wife was gone I decided to do just this-a long time ago. I got her good blender out and took herring and sardines outside on the picnic table and started making my own scent. Man bad Idea. It turned into a nasty thick gravy. It would clog up when you would throw a new one in and you would have to get down in it, to get the clogged herring out. It is so thick it didn't let it pull down the herring. You had to force it down. It was such a mess, I never did it again. I had quite the clean up of the blender. I added oil and it just got worse. I threw the entire mess out. I decided I would leave it to the pros and buy it for a few bucks next time. That crap got into everything. I never told her about her blender or food processor.
Maybe a chipper with frozen bait fish might work better, but gravy doesn't.
One day when my wife was gone I decided to do just this-a long time ago. I got her good blender out and took herring and sardines outside on the picnic table and started making my own scent. Man bad Idea. It turned into a nasty thick gravy. It would clog up when you would throw a new one in and you would have to get down in it, to get the clogged herring out. It is so thick it didn't let it pull down the herring. You had to force it down. It was such a mess, I never did it again. I had quite the clean up of the blender. I added oil and it just got worse. I threw the entire mess out. I decided I would leave it to the pros and buy it for a few bucks next time. That crap got into everything. I never told her about her blender or food processor.
Maybe a chipper with frozen bait fish might work better, but gravy doesn't.
If you ever change your mind and try it again, allow me to suggest putting in the oil first. Use thin mineral oil (totally odorless) or omega-3 rich Spectrum brand Flax Seed Oil (using only the mild tasting flax oil - some are a little too bitter). Put a few inches of it into the blender then add 1 teaspoon of sodium sulfite, which will keep your concoction from turning bad. Especially kept in the fridge - that's why most of the commercial egg cures use it in their formulas. Salmon also like a bit of sodium scent with baits. ... Then add your favorite bait or bait combos, 1 at a time (I cut the bones out of baitfish for use in a blender), and grind your mixture slowly at first to puree it, then spin it all up near high speed to thin it. Use an amount of high quality fresh bait to bring the blender to about half full. If you fill toward the top it's tough to get it spun to a thinner viscosity, and you'd need to add a bit more SS preservative. ... As is it will stay on and put out a good scent trail for a decent while. IF you want it to stay on your lures or baits longer, experiment making it into a gel version using Knox Gelatin. Keep it in little jars like the commercial paste scents are.
The non-gelatin method shouldn't be too thick for you, depending on the oil to bait ratio. But keep in mind that having some thickness/viscosity helps it stay on lures and baits longer. Also consider trying some of the trick scents or chems you'd use on great chinook catchin' eggs into some of these home made concoctions. Good luck. Let us know if you try it.
Steve
The non-gelatin method shouldn't be too thick for you, depending on the oil to bait ratio. But keep in mind that having some thickness/viscosity helps it stay on lures and baits longer. Also consider trying some of the trick scents or chems you'd use on great chinook catchin' eggs into some of these home made concoctions. Good luck. Let us know if you try it.
Steve
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