The following assertion was made by a couple of office mates who — to use the technical term — have been known to “make shit up.”
They said that if, while fishing, one sprays one’s hooked bait, or even one’s baitless lure, with WD-40, that the attractiveness of said bait or lure will be enhanced, and the fish will come running. Swimming. Whatever.
I :dubious:'d them, whereupon they swore to the truth of it. I let it drop, and made a mental note to check it out later.
Googling has been inconclusive. Different sites claim that it works for different reasons (covers up scent of skin oil, actual attractant, etc), while others say it’s a myth.
The main ingredient is kerosene and its true many fisherman swear by it. Some old timers used to add some kero to their bait before WD40 was even invented so its not a new idea.
Lots of things that fishermen come in contact with, insect repellent, cigarettes, oil from your hair and skin, gasoline, etc can make the differance between catching fish or a long day of waiving a long stick around in the air. Anything that you introduce to your presentation that blocks out those tastes and smells is going to result in more hookups over time. If there isn’t anything in WD-40 that fish find objectionable then it would be suitable, however there are plenty of more bio friendly products available that accomplish the same idea that are marketed directly to fishermen.
I use a product called Smelly Jelly, or “snot,” as I like to call it. It comes in a variety of scents, like: anise, earthworm, sand shrimp, fish ass, etc.
I used to get good results with WD-40, but yeah, the idea of throwing kerosene into a lake lost its appeal.
The only chemical to have been proven to offend fish has been DEET… while I do not have a cite handy, it was proven in reasonably controlled circumstances to truly ‘offend’ fish. Some of the newer sunscreens with PABA in them have also become suspect.
The WD-40 UL has been around a long time - and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to use it. a wuick google on “wd-40 fish attractant” will suffice to show that.
As others have said, the main property of any good attractant is to mask the scents from the fisherman - the second is one of confidence - If I think my bait will work better because of goopX on it, I will usually keep it in the water longer, which will eventually lead to more hookups. Lastly, stuff that tastes more like food or atleast have a greater salty content is less likley to be rejected once it enters the mouth… one or 2 seconds longer in the mouth gives the angler that much more time to recognize the strike and catch the fish.
IMHO, most of the goop out there is to catch fisherman, not fish - most bait doesnt smell like “anise” or “shad” - but they are “oily” (slime coats and the like) - I’ve had my best success with the simpler ‘oily’ liquids as opposed to the jellies.
Remember - fish are stupid - they don’t have hands, or good memories - if it looks like food, they have only one choice - inhale it while its there and hope for the best - most of the time they can then reject it very quickly with no harm, other times they get their picture taken.
Case in point - last week I lost a jig to a fish, simwife threw a topwater thru the same area - she caught a nice 14" bass with my jig still stuck inside its mouth… no way could the fish have eaten anything else, but it didnt know any better.
When I was a kid I went fishing with a friend who had this stuff called “Fishin’ Frenzy” and you could squirt it on the surface of the water and it would like like you’d thrown a hunk of meat into a tank of piranas with the fish thrashing about. Put it on the bait and fish would bite like crazy. No idea what was in it.
As a sport salmon fishing guide in Alaska (Kenai River), I’ve used WD-40 on lures fairly often, at the fisherman’s request. Sample size is too small for significant conclusions, but I’ve seen lots of fish caught on lures that have been sprayed.
As an aside, during the parts of the salmon season when bait or chemical attractants are forbidden, WD-40 is definitely on the list. The Fish and Game Wardens will confiscate your lure and bust you if your lure smells like WD-40 …
Permethrin, which is commonly used in insect repellents designed to block ticks is increadibly toxic to fish, so if one is using insect repellents while fishing you can sometimes have a great deal more than DEET stink to worry about.
Baited Lures: Wd 40 is a powerful solvent/dispersant. I imagine that it would encourage organic molecules from the bait to more freely disperse into the surrounding water, helping to alert and draw fish to its source.
Unbaited Lures: WD 40 may in itself have some attractive “scent” that the fish respond to.
In General: As mentioned earlier, WD 40 may help to mask/disolve the smells of DEET, Pyrethrins and Cigartettes which may repell fish. By breaking down these substances, or masking them, it may help to attract fis to a lure which would otherwise be avoided.
Fly Fishing: Feathers lightly coated with WD 40 may be slightly more bouyant, or “ride” the surface tension of the water more lightly, helping to create the image of a “nice bug” to a hungry fish.
Toxic and “offensive” are two differnt thing… DEET has been shown to cause fish to leave a specific area (not sure about the Permethin). Anectdotaly, I can confirm the affects of DEET, as a very good day on the water was stopped abruptly after applying sunscreen/insect repellant that contained it - it was after that that I did the research.
FTR, Avon’s Bug Gaurd works wonderfullly, and seems to have no ill affects, and does not contain DEET… I have not, however, sprayed it directly on any lures.
I’m pretty skeptical about the “mask the scents from the fisherman” idea. If the only known chemical to drive fish away is DEET (whatever that is) then the scents of the fisherman probably don’t contain that. The fish have no reason to associate the scent with danger and wouldn’t be smart enough to make the association anyway.
Anecdote - A friend asked me to go fishing at a lake up in the Sierra Nevadas. He had heard that trolling with a flashing atractor and worms was hot there. So we took my boat and motor and away we went. On the way up he prepared me for the worst. He said that since I was running the motor I would have the smell of gasoline on my hands so I shouldn’t expect to catch as many fish as he did.
After about an hour of fishing I had four fish and he had one. He said, “Pour some of that gasoline on my hands, please.” During the whole trip I caught about two fish to his one.
I think I figured out why. When he caught a fish I went back to fishing as soon as he had the fish in the boat. When I caught a fish we stopped trolling while I landed it, took it off the hook and put it in the tank that was under one of the seats and rebaited my hook. Only then did we go back to fishing. I was actually fishing about twice as much as he was.
So I think you’ve got something with the confidence angle. If you think your lure is effective you will give it more of a chance.
DEET is the primary chemical used in many insect repellants…
If most of the goop out there does anything at all, it does mask the scent of ‘humans’… the question of that being needed is what the producers of the goop want people to be asking. They depend on the customer thinking it is needed.
Its amazing to me that we, as a species, were ever successful at the hunting/gathering game… what without all the modern scent blocking, deer piss bottleing, camo colored, cough blocking wonders that we have.
Hell, I’ve got a fish-finder on the boat that allows me to see up-to 300 feet to the sides of my boat - I can literally see what I have just passed over to either side, and has enough detail to show me how many branches are in a submerged trees, and pinpoint wether or not there are fish in a given tree. (wont tell me what kind, dangit!)… I have no idea how gramps ever found fish to catch!
I pulled my boat up to a drowned tree and tied up. There was another boat about 50 ft away that was one that was in the bass fishing contest. As I fished I had my back to him when he started up. Sounded like Miss Budweiser. He took off across the lake ahead of a rooster tail about 30 ft. long. Those bass contest guys don’t want a waste any time on getting to a different spot.
There were fewer fishermen and more fish. When my father went up to Webster, WI in the early 1920’s you had to stand behing a tree to bait your hook.
I pulled my boat up to a drowned tree and tied up. There was another boat about 50 ft away that was one that was in the bass fishing contest. As I fished I had my back to him when he started up. Sounded like Miss Budweiser. He took off across the lake ahead of a rooster tail about 30 ft. long. Those bass contest guys don’t want a waste any time on getting to a different spot.
There were fewer fishermen and more fish. When my father went up to Webster, WI in the early 1920’s you had to stand behing a tree to bait your hook. He didn’t weigh the first fish he caught there but he took a picture and the negative weighed 2 pounds.
True - but at that point you were fishing to eat, not for fun - I know times have changed (more of us, less of them, etc…) but I think alot of folks talk themselves out of catching, or atleast enjoying it. If you spend the entire day questioning 'right this, right that" and less time actually with the bait in the water, you’re not going to do very well.
and yeah, I’ve seen those bass guys - they are only looking for the “quick biters”… don’t know how many times I’ve pulled in behind them and caught fish, just because we were willing to take a liitle more time (or because we had already patterned them out to a depth/technique). We don’t fish tourney specifically because of that… we’re out there to relax, not stress over catching 5.