Washing plugs

[Houndhunter]

Another vote for lemon joy when plugging for Kings. Steelhead I don't bother with it.

[Mulieman]

Lemon Joy like everyone else. One more thing though. In the boat I keep a toothbrush and a tube of basic colgate toothpaste. I put a tiny amount on the brush and scrub the heck out of the plug. It does a good job of cleaning, but really polishes them and makes them shiny and bright. It rinses off with no scent left. I've been doing this for steelhead and salmon for years with great success.

  the toothpaste and brush does a better job of getting the stickier stuff off and polishing the plugs vs just using the soap.

[dilleytech]

I think the lemon joy thing is a fishing myth. Not that it doesn’t work to clean a plug but any dish soap will do the Trick.

[Mfowl]

I think the lemon joy thing is a fishing myth. Not that it doesn’t work to clean a plug but any dish soap will do the Trick.

Other dish soaps have additives/chemicals that non ultra Lemon Joy does not have. Its important to use the non ultra version. Sure they'll clean your plugs but they will also leave unwanted scents on them too. Perhaps some of the organic/natural dish soaps that are out now would work but they weren't around when Lemon Joy earned its spot in the boat decades ago. I'm definitely a believer!

[metlhead]

Primarily a river guy myself, and only toss hardware. I keep it all washed for looks, not really scent. Never bought into the blue glove bait crowd. Aren't they still grabbing the outboard and other stuff? I recall my dad and his buddies only drifted bait in the summer. No gloves, always had cigarettes and sandwiches.  They flat out crushed the fish.

[7mmfan]

Primarily a river guy myself, and only toss hardware. I keep it all washed for looks, not really scent. Never bought into the blue glove bait crowd. Aren't they still grabbing the outboard and other stuff? I recall my dad and his buddies only drifted bait in the summer. No gloves, always had cigarettes and sandwiches.  They flat out crushed the fish.

Steelhead are definitely not as scent shy as salmon are. Steelhead are reactionary critters. If it looks good and they are in a biting mood they will grab it, usually with authority. Salmon have a nasty habit of following baits, grabbing them and letting them go multiple times before finally committing when they decide it's good enough to eat. So yes, I think scent control on bait AND lures when fishing salmon especially is very important.

With the advent of underwater cameras, what we all joked about for years became a harsh reality. I remember wondering as a kid pulling plugs through an automatic spot and not getting a take down how many fish looked and didn't take. Or trolling a herring through a school of kings and not getting a hit. WTF? Then I watched an underwater camera hooked to a downrigger as a perfectly tuned whole herring was trolled through a school of kings. 10 kings turned and looked, swiped, even grabbed the bait, but spit it out. We miss WAY more fish than we ever catch that's for sure. Might as well do everything in our power to try and convince them to hold on.

[Stein]

Primarily a river guy myself, and only toss hardware. I keep it all washed for looks, not really scent. Never bought into the blue glove bait crowd. Aren't they still grabbing the outboard and other stuff? I recall my dad and his buddies only drifted bait in the summer. No gloves, always had cigarettes and sandwiches.  They flat out crushed the fish.

Steelhead are definitely not as scent shy as salmon are. Steelhead are reactionary critters. If it looks good and they are in a biting mood they will grab it, usually with authority. Salmon have a nasty habit of following baits, grabbing them and letting them go multiple times before finally committing when they decide it's good enough to eat. So yes, I think scent control on bait AND lures when fishing salmon especially is very important.

With the advent of underwater cameras, what we all joked about for years became a harsh reality. I remember wondering as a kid pulling plugs through an automatic spot and not getting a take down how many fish looked and didn't take. Or trolling a herring through a school of kings and not getting a hit. WTF? Then I watched an underwater camera hooked to a downrigger as a perfectly tuned whole herring was trolled through a school of kings. 10 kings turned and looked, swiped, even grabbed the bait, but spit it out. We miss WAY more fish than we ever catch that's for sure. Might as well do everything in our power to try and convince them to hold on.

That's one of the reasons I switched to larger hooks, but it's a topic for another thread.

[dilleytech]

Primarily a river guy myself, and only toss hardware. I keep it all washed for looks, not really scent. Never bought into the blue glove bait crowd. Aren't they still grabbing the outboard and other stuff? I recall my dad and his buddies only drifted bait in the summer. No gloves, always had cigarettes and sandwiches.  They flat out crushed the fish.

Agreed also have noticed zero benefit to wearing gloves. Fish just don’t care. They can be picky kinda but human scent doesn’t seem to be one they care about. Confidence in what your doing does help however. So if you think it improves your odds it actually might.

[fowl smacker]

Primarily a river guy myself, and only toss hardware. I keep it all washed for looks, not really scent. Never bought into the blue glove bait crowd. Aren't they still grabbing the outboard and other stuff? I recall my dad and his buddies only drifted bait in the summer. No gloves, always had cigarettes and sandwiches.  They flat out crushed the fish.

I wear gloves when bait fishing, but it isn't so the fish don't catch my scent, it's so I don't bring my baits scent, and bright dyes home to my wife's discontent.

[Stein]

Primarily a river guy myself, and only toss hardware. I keep it all washed for looks, not really scent. Never bought into the blue glove bait crowd. Aren't they still grabbing the outboard and other stuff? I recall my dad and his buddies only drifted bait in the summer. No gloves, always had cigarettes and sandwiches.  They flat out crushed the fish.

Agreed also have noticed zero benefit to wearing gloves. Fish just don’t care. They can be picky kinda but human scent doesn’t seem to be one they care about. Confidence in what your doing does help however. So if you think it improves your odds it actually might.

It depends on the human scent.  If you ever fished with a person that smokes and chews and you are egg fishing in the river I wouldn't let them handle my stuff.  Same goes for dog scent on the boat or hands.  There are several studies where the scent of dogs is introduced into rivers and fish hide and don't bite.

There are other "human" scents like when you gas up the boat or the tons of other things we do that isn't going to up your odds.

[7mmfan]

There is even a specific amino acid that some males produce that is shown to grossly repel fish. I wish I could remember the name of it. When I was in highschool I worked at a little fishing shop in Arlington called Hook Line and Sinker and learned all about it. Can't for the life of me remember what it is called. The jist is that some males, not all, produce an amino acid which manifests as a scent in our sweat glands that fish absolutely cannot stand. It is theorized that this is why you can have two guys fishing the exact same setup in the exact same manor and one guy consistently catches more than the other, or even all the fish.

I can't find anything in a quick google search though, so it may not be true.

[7mmfan]

There it is. L-Serine.

https://drjuiceusa.com/blogs/news/why-some-fisherman-stink-and-others-don-t

[Stein]

Yeah, I remember reading about that now you mention it.  Too bad about that little tackle shop, I miss it often when I need to pick something up and the choice is Walmart or all the way down to Everett for John's.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

There is even a specific amino acid that some males produce that is shown to grossly repel fish. I wish I could remember the name of it. When I was in highschool I worked at a little fishing shop in Arlington called Hook Line and Sinker and learned all about it. Can't for the life of me remember what it is called. The jist is that some males, not all, produce an amino acid which manifests as a scent in our sweat glands that fish absolutely cannot stand. It is theorized that this is why you can have two guys fishing the exact same setup in the exact same manor and one guy consistently catches more than the other, or even all the fish.

I can't find anything in a quick google search though, so it may not be true.

This is very true! Glad I dont have it.

[7mmfan]

Yeah, I remember reading about that now you mention it.  Too bad about that little tackle shop, I miss it often when I need to pick something up and the choice is Walmart or all the way down to Everett for John's.

Darrel is a good guy. That shop struggled for years but he loved it. I thought I knew it all when I started working there at 16. Boy did I learn a lot. Was a fun place to work for a few years.