Tuesday 7, Sep 2010
This week well known Trout Angler and Jindabyne Based Fishing Guide Steve Williamson looks at the importance of a trout’s sense of smell and how it might explain why women sometimes catch more fish than men when fishing on a level playing field. Here is Steve: Well the statement ‘Trout Smell’ is not that they actually smell terrible or fishy, at least not like some fish, the statement trout smell is more about the fact they can actually smell you.
Humans and other predators emit an amino acid called L Serine. Members of the salmonoid family can detect L-serine in quantities as little as 1 part per 8 billion parts of water! Scientists found that trout and salmon react to the L-serine found on wolf and bear paws and seal skin. The interesting thing is that Human skin also produces L-serine and which can and does scare trout and salmon. Trout and salmon frequently spawn on shallow shoals where wolves and bears may attack them. So these fish species instinctively avoid L-serine.
There are other examples of a salmons incredible sense of smell, the best know one is that salmon can detect the smell of its home stream from thousand miles at sea, and follow it home to spawn 2 to 5 years later! They are very good at detecting very small concentrations of some compounds in the water. Tests of anglers that placed high in tournaments, found that they had little or no L-Serine on their hands.
Some men are loaded with it. But just like Testosterone, it is not present in as high concentrations in women and children. So that’s why women catch more fish than men! The lesson, for men anyway, is before you handle your lures or baits - wash your hands with something that will remove and mask L-Serine any other bad scents.
You can buy special soaps and cleaners that will do it, OR you can do what I have heard some successful anglers do and that is use toothpaste. Any plain toothpaste will do. The small travel size tubes will fit in vest or tackle box easily, and comes in handy to wash off slime, bait, grease, petrol, etc. Whatever you use always rinse until the slick feeling has gone and you have just improved your odds by about 50%.
Good Smells
This also means that a good smell or scent can be used on a lure as an attractant can help you catch more fish! There are companies that make attractants for just this purpose. These scents do two things; first they mask the L-serine that we all give off, but they can also contain amino acid profiles that appeal to fish and trigger feeding behaviour.
The first one that I ever used and still often use today is Catch Scent. The other is the newer Stimulate product with Ultrabite Slow Release Gel, which is a unique lure and bait additive which contains patented synthetic Pheromones that trigger vigorous feeding in inactive fish. It is formulated to stick to your lures and release the pheromones gradually. It will also mask the human scent that is present on your lures and bait.
Thanks Steve. You may have helped explain the bizarre occurrence of how a women or child can sometimes catch more than a bunch of men fishing from the same boat with the same bait… The fairer folks sure do seem to beat the odds on many occasions...
For the record I also like to use the same scents as Steve on my lures, not as a magic silver bullet that will have fish jumping in the boat, but rather as a little helper, especially on the days when the fish are not in a full on sight attack mode, but rather on a cautious follow sniff it and see mood.
In the meantime I am still at a loss to explain why my wife and kids catch more fish than me even when I bait their hooks with my own L-Serine emitting hands…Maybe it is because when they come fishing I spend so much time baiting them up that I don’t get time to get a line in myself?
What ever the case it is best to admit defeat, or ban the girls from the boy’s trips or we will never get any peace…it is supposed to be our sport boys!
Ladies please keep the e-mails to your self, I’m running for cover in my household already…
See you on the water.
Rob Paxevanos
www.fishingaustralia.tv
