The curse of Jonah

[Tyme2fish]

This may have absolutely nothing to do with it, but I have seen similar things happen and have been convinced that the "snakebit" person had something on his hands that left a bad scent on his baits. Gasoline, hand lotion, bug repellent etc.

Yes,this can and does occur.

My fishing buddy and I use spray on sunscreen and insect repellent to try and avoid this. My buddy had sprayed a generous amount of sunscreen onto the back of his hands and then dipped his hand into the minnow bucket to grab a bait. I couldn't holler "STOP" fast enough. We had two minnow buckets and I made him use the contaminated bucket while I used the "clean" bucket" After I caught my limit of crappie, I let him use the good bait. He didn't catch a thing with his contaminated minnows.

[kentuckykingfisher]

This may have absolutely nothing to do with it, but I have seen similar things happen and have been convinced that the "snakebit" person had something on his hands that left a bad scent on his baits. Gasoline, hand lotion, bug repellent etc.

I'll agree with bug spray. I get that stuff near my hands or my tackle and I may as well turn around and go home. I fished with buddy's who put bug spray all over them selfs and not catch a bite while I was careful where I sprayed and was wearing them out. I truly believe there's something to that.

[huntingteacher]

I always catch less than I think I should have, but this is what I might do. Slow down your retrieve. We kayak fish small rivers often, which by the way is awesome fun and you almost never get skunked, but that's a different story. Anyway, I've noticed if one person is tearing it up and another hasn't caught anything, its usually they are reeling too fast. Throw spinning lures, Rebel Craw Crank baits. Just about everything will bite on these in a small river at least.
Go very early or very late in the evenings. Seems like for us, fishing past 10 am to 5 pm is super super slow. Fish cloudy days. Fish always bite more with cloud cover. Hope something I just typed helps. PS. Try kayak fishing. Been doing it 10 years and always great fun. Many small rivers or large streams to float, that have real low pressure. Never catch a 5 pound bass in these areas, but normally you will catch a little of everything.

[dmase]

Yes,this can and does occur.

My fishing buddy and I use spray on sunscreen and insect repellent to try and avoid this. My buddy had sprayed a generous amount of sunscreen onto the back of his hands and then dipped his hand into the minnow bucket to grab a bait. I couldn't holler "STOP" fast enough. We had two minnow buckets and I made him use the contaminated bucket while I used the "clean" bucket" After I caught my limit of crappie, I let him use the good bait. He didn't catch a thing with his contaminated minnows.

FACT: Berkly did a study in the early 80's . Bass in a tank were introduced to thousands of scents. Everything you could possibly think of. The fish only were repelled and swam away from 1 and only 1 scent/product. DEET the active ingredient in most insect repellents. When I fished night tourny's I would bring a supply of the stuff and ask at the ramp if anyone needed bug spray.Hey, whatever works right?

[robertdilbert]

Throw spinning lures, Rebel Craw Crank baits.

these?

http://www.redstackle.com/images/139...082092831.jpeg

http://www.basspro.com/Rebel-Crawfish/product/2952/

[SLP]

FACT: Berkly did a study in the early 80's . Bass in a tank were introduced to thousands of scents. Everything you could possibly think of. The fish only were repelled and swam away from 1 and only 1 scent/product. DEET the active ingredient in most insect repellents. When I fished night tourny's I would bring a supply of the stuff and ask at the ramp if anyone needed bug spray.Hey, whatever works right?

That is interesting, thanks for posting.

Funny trick at the ramp

[jcb]

FACT: Berkly did a study in the early 80's . Bass in a tank were introduced to thousands of scents. Everything you could possibly think of. The fish only were repelled and swam away from 1 and only 1 scent/product. DEET the active ingredient in most insect repellents. When I fished night tourny's I would bring a supply of the stuff and ask at the ramp if anyone needed bug spray.Hey, whatever works right?

Interesting thanks for posting.

But the way I read the study, all it proves is that DEET is the only tested ingredient to REPEL fish. It doesn't speak to whether or not those foreign substances inhibit bass from BITING, which is really the important question.

[jcb]

these?

http://www.redstackle.com/images/139...082092831.jpeg

http://www.basspro.com/Rebel-Crawfish/product/2952/

Them's the ones. Usually available at Wallyworld.

[fishhound]

I have figured out what my curse is...The curse of the commercial fishermen! Pretty soon I'll have nothin but bighead and silver carp in my river and will have to take my son somewhere else to show him what his daddy does.

feel like you do chuck its a shame how many commercial fisherman that's on the ohio :-(

[stripernut1]

to add to the post that mentioned scent control....
the first shad out of the tank each morning is sacrificed in the name of scent control....i thoroughly rub the shad all over my hands front and back for at least 30 seconds, then i rinse my hands thoroughly in the lakewater, i dont dry my hands on a towel , i go immeditely to the bait tank and start baiting /deploying rods. im pretty obsessive about the details. i dont really have any hard evidence that this makes a difference....unless you consider the deep freezer full of fillets hard eveidence

all kidding aside i absolutely believe scent plays a role in positive/negative reaction, im not saying you have to rub a fresh shad all over your hands (thats just my OCD coming out) but i would take a close look at my routine and see if theres something im doing that might be contributing to my lack of success.

but i darn sure wouldnt give up now....it will be so rewarding when you do get this ironed out!

[dmase]

I try yo use scented baits like power bait,net-bait-etc. I also use a spray on cover scent called "bang garlic"on most other unscented baits. It really is the ticket in early spring fishing pig&jig combinations. Hey,I swear by the stuff and would not write this if I felt it did not make a huge difference. Tight lines.