06-29-2020, 06:29 PM
The patents are indeed off on the Salt. In fact, one judge finally tossed it out saying it was not a unique idea and anyone could have done it. Still, Gary said one time that he kept Gene in business with all of his payments. LOL
Adding salt to a bait does weaken it. I often suggest that the wacky ring/washer was invented to make the salted stick bait last longer. Nevertheless, we catch a lot of fish on that rig.
The whole thing about scent, color, etc., etc., is controversial. Indeed when the fish are hot putting gas on a lure won't impact the catch rate, but when the fish are off, touching the bait with a human hand seems to end your day. I once did the gas demonstration and I have a friend that wont fish for King Salmon without nitrile gloves.
About 20 years ago there was a poll on a lure making web site called tackleunderground.com. They are the premier group of lure designers from around the world (and a lot of beginners also) that collaborate on lure designs. Great group of guys. I have looked for it, but with changing servers and pages it appears to have been lost. Nevertheless, I remember that the poll was something like "what is the top 10 things you look for in a lure?"
I don't think we came to a definitive conclusion, but I do remember that color was way down at number 9 and scent was at 10 or below. Number one was more about action or size. I think that the more you know about how light penetrates water the more color becomes important, and the more we change how we buy lures. But this is a discussion on scent, and that one is even more controversial.
I will use one experience I had several years ago. I was fishing in a little honey hole of a lake in Washington State that had huge Browns, both in size and numbers. At the time, a Black with gold blade Panther Marten Spinner was the key, and had been for weeks. One trip the fish would follow the lure back to the boat on every cast, often two or three fish at a time, but not take it. We tried different spinners, different colors, different lures, and they would only follow the black and would not hit it. About 3 hours of complete frustration left me with a final idea. I had a bottle of Mikes Glow Scent in Nightcrawler in my tackle box that I bought in the early 80's (ACTUALLY PUT A PIECE OF REAL NIGHTCRAWLER ON FIRST AND THEY WOULD NOT TOUCH IT). It was old, very old, and had never worked. I put a couple of drops on the spinner and the first cast, and every cast for the next few hours, was FISH ON! My partner fought the urge to put the scent on his lure for only so long then added it as well. We got fishing flu and skipped work the next day and went back. This time the fish were hitting the spinner like normal but when we put on the same scent they would not touch it at all.
I do not push scents, in fact I seldom use scents for myself. I prefer to use cut bait, natural worms, a grasshopper or cricket, something natural if I resort to bait fishing. I almost never add scent to lures. BUT, for those times when nothing seems to work, I have a couple of bottles/tubes of a generic scent to add. I suggest that a pair of good latex or nitrile gloves would make a better fisherman than most scents. Still, as I have seen on those rare times, scent can make the fishing better, or make it worse.
I have learned on thing for sure. Confidence often is more important than science. I bet if I asked this site if red and white were any good for a lure that a huge percentage would mention how good it is. I personally hate it, have caught less then 2 dozen fish on that color. My wife loves it and has caught hundreds on it. If the two of us are fishing together, and both have it on, she will catch fish and I get the skunk, so I take it off and find something else. In all probability, if I left it on, I would do better, but I HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN IT. I like white, I like red, both work well for me, just don't combine them on me. LOL
I hate bait fishing, hate powerbait in general, but, and I do mean but, a scientific comparison of two identical colors with different scents (one garlic of course) is merited. Powerbait works, and works well (is it the color, the facts it floats, the scent, the combination of those factors?), but I still contest that just because Berkley says something does not make it so. In fact, in my personal experience, their soft plastics with their proprietary scent/plastic seldom works as well as a salted bait or a regular bait with oil added to stop the baits from sticking together in the package.
What I don't want to see is someone imposing my opinion on others. I also refuse to have others impose their opinion on me. I guess, in the end, I am just a flat out advocate of personal rights.
Adding salt to a bait does weaken it. I often suggest that the wacky ring/washer was invented to make the salted stick bait last longer. Nevertheless, we catch a lot of fish on that rig.
The whole thing about scent, color, etc., etc., is controversial. Indeed when the fish are hot putting gas on a lure won't impact the catch rate, but when the fish are off, touching the bait with a human hand seems to end your day. I once did the gas demonstration and I have a friend that wont fish for King Salmon without nitrile gloves.
About 20 years ago there was a poll on a lure making web site called tackleunderground.com. They are the premier group of lure designers from around the world (and a lot of beginners also) that collaborate on lure designs. Great group of guys. I have looked for it, but with changing servers and pages it appears to have been lost. Nevertheless, I remember that the poll was something like "what is the top 10 things you look for in a lure?"
I don't think we came to a definitive conclusion, but I do remember that color was way down at number 9 and scent was at 10 or below. Number one was more about action or size. I think that the more you know about how light penetrates water the more color becomes important, and the more we change how we buy lures. But this is a discussion on scent, and that one is even more controversial.
I will use one experience I had several years ago. I was fishing in a little honey hole of a lake in Washington State that had huge Browns, both in size and numbers. At the time, a Black with gold blade Panther Marten Spinner was the key, and had been for weeks. One trip the fish would follow the lure back to the boat on every cast, often two or three fish at a time, but not take it. We tried different spinners, different colors, different lures, and they would only follow the black and would not hit it. About 3 hours of complete frustration left me with a final idea. I had a bottle of Mikes Glow Scent in Nightcrawler in my tackle box that I bought in the early 80's (ACTUALLY PUT A PIECE OF REAL NIGHTCRAWLER ON FIRST AND THEY WOULD NOT TOUCH IT). It was old, very old, and had never worked. I put a couple of drops on the spinner and the first cast, and every cast for the next few hours, was FISH ON! My partner fought the urge to put the scent on his lure for only so long then added it as well. We got fishing flu and skipped work the next day and went back. This time the fish were hitting the spinner like normal but when we put on the same scent they would not touch it at all.
I do not push scents, in fact I seldom use scents for myself. I prefer to use cut bait, natural worms, a grasshopper or cricket, something natural if I resort to bait fishing. I almost never add scent to lures. BUT, for those times when nothing seems to work, I have a couple of bottles/tubes of a generic scent to add. I suggest that a pair of good latex or nitrile gloves would make a better fisherman than most scents. Still, as I have seen on those rare times, scent can make the fishing better, or make it worse.
I have learned on thing for sure. Confidence often is more important than science. I bet if I asked this site if red and white were any good for a lure that a huge percentage would mention how good it is. I personally hate it, have caught less then 2 dozen fish on that color. My wife loves it and has caught hundreds on it. If the two of us are fishing together, and both have it on, she will catch fish and I get the skunk, so I take it off and find something else. In all probability, if I left it on, I would do better, but I HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN IT. I like white, I like red, both work well for me, just don't combine them on me. LOL
I hate bait fishing, hate powerbait in general, but, and I do mean but, a scientific comparison of two identical colors with different scents (one garlic of course) is merited. Powerbait works, and works well (is it the color, the facts it floats, the scent, the combination of those factors?), but I still contest that just because Berkley says something does not make it so. In fact, in my personal experience, their soft plastics with their proprietary scent/plastic seldom works as well as a salted bait or a regular bait with oil added to stop the baits from sticking together in the package.
What I don't want to see is someone imposing my opinion on others. I also refuse to have others impose their opinion on me. I guess, in the end, I am just a flat out advocate of personal rights.