Berkley Gulp

[Red Childress]

Hey Stan,

There have been contradicting assumptions regarding scent and musky fishing over the years. After reading several opinions from notable veterans in the musky fishing world along with the very few scientific studies that have been published about the Esox family, it pretty much boils down to this:

Muskies have better "hearing" due to a more refined lateral line and pike seem to be more of a "visual" predator BUT using scent for pike has long been a great way to increase your catch rates. Pork trailers/dead bait and scented cotton balls attached to the hooks of baits have increased catches of pike but NOT for muskies, according to everything I can find.

There are some famous musky fisherman/biologists who seem to think that muskies really do not get turned on nearly as much as pike when using scent BUT if your presentation smells "unnatural" and/or the musky is NOT in an aggressive feeding mode, the extra "fishy" scent on your bait could be all you need to turn that particular musky into an eater.

I would assume that the row trollers in WI or the guys who are "dead sticking" their suckers at boatside while casting artificials would have their own opinions and probably more worthy than mine.

The first musky I ever caught (December '93) was using a big jig tipped with a large dead shad......the fish followed all the way to the boat and ate me at boatside on a figure-8 in 39 degree water.

No scent seems to be much better than BAD SCENT, like the smell of petroleum products from dirty hands handling your baits..................