As humans, we stink.
One only needs to see the reaction from a white-tailed deer as it
takes a whiff of human odor left behind on the ground, a tree branch, or some
object to understand that it doesn’t much care for what its sensitive nose has
detected.
And fishes might even do a better job of sniff out human odors
left behind on live-bait and – perhaps, especially - artificial lures.
Indeed, some fish species’ olfactory rosettes (the hard-wired
organ that a fish uses to smell with) can detect odors as little as one part in
one billion.
Obviously if a fish is hanging out in water current that doesn’t
take scent past a fish the critter is not going to smell it. Ditto with a deer;
this is why hunters check wind direction and set up downwind of where they hope
to hunt.
Over the past couple of decades any number of anglers and
fisheries scientists have experimented with ways to trick a fish’s nose, or
“nares,” if you want to be biologically accurate.
A recent entry into the hide human odor/attract fish compounds is
a product called FISH Allure, says Mentor professional angler Mike McCoy.
McCoy recently hooked up with Mentor-based Chemsultants
International, a specialized manufacturing firm that acquired patent-pending
rights to the Fish Allure’s unique technological signature.
At the heart of the original technology – the work of a
now-defunct St. Paul, Minnesota-based company – was a means to develop a
polymer film that possessed the potential for what is called “transdermal drug
delivery.”
That’s a fancy way of saying that a chemical or chemical compound
can be infused to a piece of polymer which then dispenses the pharmaceutical
product at a measured rate.
Somewhere in the scheme of things was born the idea of using a
slice of polymer plastic film imbedded with some fish-attracting chemical
compound, McCoy says as well.
“In searching for other applications, the technology’s
inventor-scientist looked to the sport fishing marketplace and conceived a
patch that could deliver certain scents to artificial hardbait lures,” McCoy
says.
Scientists have shown that
amino acids are the essence responsible for the smell; an odor that fish can’t
resist, McCoy says also.
To build upon the product’s concept the technology’s
inventor-scientist “added various amino acids into our FISH Allure film to
provide the scent that will actually attract fish once these scents are
released from our product but only when it is in water,” says McCoy.
Water activated, the scent gradually releases over a 60-minute
period, McCoy says.
“Since the clear, thin film strip is water-activated it can be
applied prior to fishing,” McCoy says. “Just as importantly, the film is easily
and cleanly removed without any residue. Consequently, there’s no mess and
virtually no waste.”
That "no mess" is by no means an insignificant point.
And angler who's ever sprayed, squeezed, dripped or lathered an oily based fish
scent onto a lure understands just how oozy and slimy these products typically
are, McCoy said too.
McCoy noted as well that the film strip is thin enough that it
does not affect an artificial bait’s action, whether that’s a gentle wobble, a
radical side-to-side motion, or a top-wait bait’s distinctive “gulp-gulp”
sound.
“And it works with just about any kind of artificial lure, too;
top-water, deep diver, vibrator, bottom-bouncer, whatever hard bait an angler
chooses to use,” McCoy says. “This takes scent-based attractants to the
molecular level, and does so without being washed off as soon as it hits the
water.”
During one field study lures fitted with thin slices of Fish
ALLURE out-produced strip-less hard-baits by a factor of 5.59 fish per angler
using lures without the product to 9.05 fish caught with film-applied
artificial baits, McCoy said too.
“This ingenious product takes scent-based attractants to the
molecular level, and does so without being washed off as soon as it hits the
water,” McCoy says.
Fish ALLURE is currently available through several retail venues.
Among them are Internet-based AmazonPrime (www.amazon.com) for $8.95 per 20 film
tab packet; and Tackle Warehouse (www.tacklewarehouse.com) for $8.99 per 20 tab
packet.
For further information about FishAllure, visit www.fishallure.com
.
By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Amritech.net
Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. During his 30 years with The News-Herald Jeff was the recipient of more than 100 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state.
