Interesting post Bill. The more and more I fish, the more I think that if these things want to eat, they will eat. Nothing can stop them. Obviously, you hope your bait is in front of them when they are in this mood (or a feeding window).

Then there are the times where "maybe" they will eat. This is where it gets interesting. There's two ways to approach this in my estimation. One, you spend time trying to get the fish to bite. Maybe using scents like you propose. Two, you take away reasons for them NOT to bite your lure. By this I mean, they are predators and hunting/eating is what they do. But if something isn't "right", they become cautious and don't eat the bait. For example, "is my bait thumping just right?", "is my bait flashing too much or too little?", "Did I just spray my hands with OFF to repel mosquitos and get some on my bait that the fish can sense?", "Did my shadow spook the fish when I went into a figure 8?", "Did my foot thump the bottom of the boat when I moved", etc, etc.

A predator like a Musky is evolved to be efficient. They will expend the least amount of energy for the maximum gain. So, I believe when they follow, they started out wanting to eat/kill, but something is just not right (which makes them not eat). If they didn't want to eat/kill, they wouldn't waste the energy chasing the bait; these are the days when you see very few fish. So, what we have to do is minimize ways for them not to eat. In addition, you have to maximize ways for them to eat (for example, a figure 8 triggers them because maybe they think the prey is getting away OR maybe a whacky colored bait triggers a strike for whatever reason...maybe they got pissed off?).

So, minimize ways for them not to eat, maximize ways for them to eat (like all of the reasons I mentioned above). By adding scent, it's a calculated risk, right? If it's not "proven", then it may actually be a deterrent for them to eat! But at the same time, if it syncs up with their every day predatory experience (i.e. they are eating ciscoes and it smells like a cisco), then maybe it would work.

At the end of the day, I think the "frontier" in terms of "scent" fishing lies not with spreading our baits with fish oils, or some kind of "fish parts sauce". Rather, I believe that fish/prey in distress release some sort of pheromone or "distress signal". It's a chemical "trail" that predators pick up and it signals, EASY MEAL. This is why you hear the stories of predators like pike and musky grabbing walleye, trout, or that smaller pike on the end of our lines. The lateral line stimulation of the thrashing "prey" (trout, walleye, bass) combines with the chemical distress signal...and the predator moves in for the kill. If this chemical/pheromone could be bottled and used in the right amount, I think it would be a huge trigger.

Just my $0.02.

-Dan