Washing Lures

[GeckoGuy]

Is there a good way to wash any possible scent (sunscreen, human scent, etc.) and other dirt and grime off of your lures?  Could you use hunting scent-free soap or any soap that gives an added beneficial scent effect like WD-40?  I want to wash my lures but I'm not sure if the fish will smell the soap.  Also, I want to be sure that the soap won't do anything to the paint/tape on the expensive lures.

 

Thanks,

GeckoGuy

[Sk8man]

Wash them in Dawn dish soap and rinse them real well afterward

[work2fish]

I wash alot of lures fishing in the spring on the northshore. ha

[ifishy]

i saw an experiment once where they dipped spoons in the bilge rubbed sunscreen on them and all sorts of stuff and put them down on video.  you could see the scent trail wash off in a couple of minuets and the fish would hit them at the same rate as the ones not soaked.  most spoons are pretty non-porous so they just dont hold a scent.  as far as other baits well it all depends on the material the more porous the more it holds scent and the more it can be a problem or a benifit if you use an attractent.  

[muskiedreams]

I thought this was a post about a fishless day.

[suttontroller94]

Toothpaste and elbow grease works great it even removes rust stains. Restored a bunch of Suttons as well as some stingers and joes pirates this way didn't harm paint and lures shined like new

Edited March 26, 2016 by suttontroller94

[henrybud]

West coast guys have bottles of original Joy lemon scent  on the boat at all times and wear latex gloves when handling lures and bait.  Here's a great article from a great magazine.  Kudo's to Troy!  I would love to fish with him and learn!!!  Mark Rominowski is a great fisherman too.  I love the mag by the way!

 

http://www.lakeontariooutdoors.com/stories/news-story/cleanliness-is-next-to

[henrybud]

Oops.  That's supposed to be Mark Romanack who was the author of the article. http://www.lakeontariooutdoors.com/stories/news-story/cleanliness-is-next-to

 

 Check out his videos along with Troy's on Youtube.  These are good guys and excellent fishermen.  

[tuffishooker]

#1 Always wash your hands with plain soap ie. Ivory !

#2 Try my " secret cover scent " a mixture of cod liver oil , brown sugar and lemon juice :Like everything else in salmon fishing sometimes it works !

[laker1]

About 20 + plus years ago I attended a sold out seminar at our local concert hall in Winnipeg Manitoba. There , Charlie White from British Columbia showed us a film he had taken with a camera secured inside a water tight box next to his down rigger ball. He filmed various fish but concentrated on salmon and their reaction to his spoons. He ran his spoons clean and dipped in various attractants. One of his findings was that oily bilge water from his boat was the best attractant. I was fascinated with this revelation. And the commercial scents available at the time seemed to have no effect. Mr. White produced a VHS tape recording his experiment with his full seminar. The tape was at our local library. I also saw the tape featured on Canadian TV.

Despite all this I do wash my lures in Dawn and I do use scent from time to time. But just the same this still mystifies me!

[henrybud]

Charlie White- "In Search of the Ultimate Lure" and "Salmon Fever".  I remember them well.  

[henrybud]

Nope to self,  Don't place your lures in a bag of Oily tuna AND leave it on your best friend's beautiful Thompson Fisherman in the bait well for a month.   Don't ask me how I know this......Sorry Jack

[Paul Czarnecki]

I've seen really greasy and oily baits cleaned in the dishwasher. If your wife allows it of course. [emoji16]

[tuffishooker]

" Charlie White " = " One born every minute " !

[Snitchols]

WD-40 as a fish attractant is a myth:

WHAT A FISH STORY!

Myth: WD-40® contains fish oil.

Fact: Consumers have told us over the years that they have caught some of the biggest fish ever after protecting their fish hooks and lures with WD-40®.  We believe this legend came from folks assuming that the product must contain fish oil since it appears to attract fish.  Sorry Charlie®, it just ain’t so.

WD-40 Company has taken steps to respect and conserve the environment, and encourages its users to do the same.  While WD-40® can be used to help protect fishing equipment from rust and corrosion, WD-40 Company does not recommend using WD-40® to attract fish.

http://wd40.com/cool-stuff/myths-legends-fun-facts#fish

[LongLine]

Yeah, but it works great!.  Also keeps the ball bearing swivels lubricated and split rings from squeaking underwater...

[mainetroller]

Kerosene attracts lobsters to beat hell. So well fishermen use to soak any parts of their gear they could in it back in the day. Outlawed now. Not sure how it translates to fish

[wdrake31]

Plain old Lemon joy keep a bottle of thinned out joy in a squirt bottle.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[leadcore troller]

What ifishy is talking about, I have that video by a guy who's last name is White, the video is called  Why Fish Bite , it was shot in BC, around the late 70's, pretty interesting , the guys dunks the spoons in the bilge area around the inboard getting them all oily and drops them down on riggers with a camera and the fish have no problem following and hitting them.

[leadcore troller]

It just came to me , his name is Charlie White, Why Fish Hit and Why They Don't