Studies of fish have taught us that fish are attracted to certain scents. This means they can smell. And it also probably means, they can smell things that they don’t like. Just like that big whitetail buck, if he catches of a whiff of something that doesn’t smell right, he’s not interested, and is leaving the scene. Okay, maybe they don’t react the same to an odd smell, but you should still take the necessary precautions to cover your scent.
A little trick I’ve learned recently (which is so obvious, I can’t believe I haven’t been doing it every time I fish), is to cover your hands with the smell of the bait you are using. For example, for this years walleye opener, I plan on using minnows, and maybe some leaches. To help cover up the scent of anything that might spook fish away from my lure, I will rub a minnow between my hands to give them that good ole fishy smell. After I get that first fish, I will rub my hands together after unhooking the fish, so my hands have even more cover scent. You get the idea. Another idea might be to put a little fish attractive scent on your hands.
Using this tip, which may make your snack in the boat taste funny, might be the trick that gives you the edge to catch those finnicky fish.
Good luck fish’n
Brad @SonarFish
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