Is Fishing Scent Needed For Catching More Bass?

I have been using scent for most of my fishing career and I believe that a little scent is always helpful. Bass are very picky when it comes to smell and any weird scent from your hands or on your lures may turn them off and keep you from getting a solid bite. I know that sight or sound usually gets their attention first, but don’t count out the smell because it helps the bass hold on to the lure long enough for you to easily detect a bite.More... I prefer to use garlic and crawfish primarily, but I will occasionally use shad scent too. I like to use garlic and crawfish scent on plastic lures and jigs, and shad scent seems to work well for crankbaits, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, and buzz baits. I would pay attention to what baitfish bass are feeding on at the time you are fishing and try that scent first until you are comfortable with a favorite scent. There are several articles on this from the web and I really like the explanation given at http://www.bassfishin.com/article11.htm, which is written by Ken Kross. Ken is a Chemist by profession and is currently the president of Scientific Bass Products, Inc. Ken describes about how fish react to smell or scent and outlines the factors involved in producing his own scent to maximize bites and landing more fish. I have not tried his Kick’n Bass scent yet, but I may give it a shot this fishing season. Currently, I like to use Smelly Jelly Pro Guide Formula in the bass feast scent for jigs, and I prefer Berkley Gulp Alive crawfish scent for all my plastic lures. These are the two I prefer, but you may find a diamond in the rough, so I suggest you try many and experiment all until you find the scents that work best for you and your lures. You can find both of these scents in most major fishing tackle stores, but for ease of access I pasted the links from Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s, so you can see what’s offered in the marketplace today.

Berkley Gulp Alive can be found in Bass Pro Shops.
Berkley Gulp Alive and Smelly Jelly can be found at Cabela's.

Happy scent searching!