Freshwater Lures

There has been much controversy over fish attractants, and the general consensus seems to be split down the middle.

Though fish attractants while having been used for many years are gaining in popularity and while there is scientific proof that fish scents do make a difference when using your favourite freshwater lures, most fisherman have a somewhat misguided idea of the actual benefit fish scents or fish attractants have on the potential success of a fishing session.

The term 'Fish Attractant' is a somewhat misleading term as most experts both fishing and scientific believe that fish scents don't necessary 'attract fish' but rather greatly increase the chance your targeted predatory species in 'believing' that there is a real food source available even after your fish has ambushed your freshwater lures.

For example most fresh water species such as Bass can 'smell' scents even from minute amounts of substances. What Bass and other freshwater fish cannot do is sense the direction or distance of a scents source, so therefore 'fish attractants' don't really attract fish!

Although not all is lost! Fish rely on a number of senses to identify and hunt their prey, the most prominent sense being their sight.

You just have to talk to a well versed Bass fisherman to know that Bass in particular are a very visual fish, they like to 'see' their prey; which is why many lures best suited to target various species of Bass come in a wide range of colours to suit a number of fishing conditions.

For Bass, as with many other freshwater predatory species, the sense of smell simply re-enforces the presence of a genuine food source.

So what does this mean for the average fisherman, well the long and short of it is that fish attractants while don't really attract fish, they do in fact encourage a strike and some would even argue increase the aggressiveness of a strike.

You can conclude from all this then, that fish scents do have a valid place in adding to the success of your fishing adventures, just not how the highly lucrative million dollar industry of fish attractants would like you to believe.

Fish scents will not attract fish short of jumping into your boat, which means an appropriate selection of freshwater fishing lures including color selection as well as sound fishing technique, environment and target species knowledge as well as experience are still absolutely essential to a fisherman's overall success.