Scent makes Sense

I’ve always been known for my ability to pick up on the smallest of things that someone says. Others might not hear it, think it is meaningless, or breeze right over it, but I tend to hold on to that information. Although someone might have an intended message to get across, they often will say something during a public conversation that gets missed by most people. After the conversation, discussion, or tutorial is over, the majority of the listeners didn’t pick up on that one thing. Heck, even the person speaking didn’t key to it. But I DID!

For me, knowing that something works isn’t enough. I have to know WHY it works! Oftentimes it is more of a curse than a blessing. More often than not, it might take me several years to actually find the “Ah Ha” moment. Over the last several weeks I’ve been pondering a question. I know the darn thing works but WHY?

We have all seen the tests, the evaluations, the testimonials. Heck, I’ve even written one myself. We all know that the stuff works. But WHY does it work? If you have been living under a rock for the last several months then you obviously don’t know that I’m talking about “Slab Sauce”. More specifically, I’m talking about the garlic version known as “G Sauce”. Why in the heck would a fish want to eat a bait that smells like garlic?

I have done my fair share of research over the last few weeks and, although I’ve found tons of information regarding the subject, I have yet to find an answer that amounts to anything that I consider useful! I’ve read dozens of articles written by top anglers, outdoors personalities, writers, and even companies that are producing these products. Although they give some pretty good information regarding the use of products and why they “might” work, none of them had any definitive answers.

The common answer that I found was: “Although most people believe that the sole use of scent is to attract fish to their lures, the most useful property scent exhibits is the ability to mask negative smells and tastes.”

An additional quote that I found interesting is: “The application of scent will make your offering feel and taste alive, convincing a fish to hold on to the bait for a much longer time, ultimately allowing an angler to "feel" the fish first and then set the hook.”

Although both of these are good answers and can explain certain things, it ultimately didn’t answer the question that I had. The majority of the topics I read always alluded to the thought process that scents “Mask Negative Odors”.

Along the way I even found some very contradictory information coming from well-known companies. Specifically referring to oil based scents. I think it was primarily because this particular company doesn’t actually sell oil based scents so they were trying to make their blend better than others by explaining that oil based scents float in the water and wash off! I won’t name the company.

As luck would have it, yesterday I was watching one of my favorite fishing guys on YouTube (I don’t have television). In this show (or VLOG as they call it these days) he was visiting his old stomping grounds. He had gotten his start in the industry when a gentleman and his wife (who owns a tackle business) took him under their wings and let him stay in their shop while he was cutting his teeth as a professional guide and trying to earn money to fish tournaments.

During this show, the gentlemen took the viewers on a tour of their facility. The YouTube host commented about the smells of the shop (something that he missed). At this time, the owner of the company says that they infuse the majority of their baits with “GARLIC”. They do this because it is scientifically proven that the GARLIC scent gives off molecules in the water that can be recognized as the smell of BLOOD to fish….. WAIT, what did he just say? I backed the video up and listened again. Right there in plain English was a bait company OWNER (and a very successful one at that) saying the actual REASON why he infuses his baits with GARLIC scent!!!!!!

To give you an idea of how successful and well known this guy is, he receives tons of personal phone calls from top FLW and BASS competitors. Many of which have sponsorship deals with top named companies. He specifically makes baits and color and scent combinations directly for them.

I searched the internet again to try and find any other specific mentioning’s of this information and could not find any. I read hundreds of forum comments, articles from people, reviews, and no one, not one person, mentioned anything about the perception or correlation of garlic (as we know it) to BLOOD as the fish would smell it.

Could this be the answer? Could this be the real reason why fish are attracted to certain scents? Sure, we know why they might be attracted to the scent of worms, crayfish, or baitfish such as alewife, but garlic, cheese, and other stinky baits have always been a bit of a mystery. Could it really be as simple as what the fish perceives they are smelling? Could it actually be as easy as these scents directly resembling something they can smell? I have a hard time believing that this one guy is the only one that knows about this. What I do know is that I can rest easy knowing that I have found an answer to a question that has been hounding me for several weeks. Is it the right answer? I don’t know, but it is good enough for me!