Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
Two days after Hurricane Earl slipped past our coast we headed offshore for a day of shark fishing. The waters had settled down quite a bit, but when we arrived at our fishing spot I didn’t exactly like what I saw. The water was extremely murky; in fact it looked more like we were floating in chocolate milk than the same ocean we had fished prior to the storm. It was so bad that I contemplated running a bit farther offshore in the hopes better (cleaner) conditions, but after reminding myself about how effectively sharks use their nose to locate prey and how good the fishing had been in that location, I decided we’d give the dark water at least a couple hours to produce something before we tried someplace else.
We didn’t have to wait that long. Just ten minutes after putting the first line in the water we had the first shark hooked-up and for the rest of the morning we were getting bites every 15-20 minutes. You’ve got to hand it to the sharks; they have one heck of an olfactory system!
But sharks aren’t the only critters that rely heavily on the use of their “snoots” for their daily routines. Within the entire animal kingdom, scent plays a huge role in not only “finding” food but also avoiding “becoming” food for other creatures. The sense of smell also helps animals locate their own offspring, potential mates and even to navigate though areas of decreased visibility or on long migrations. I’m surely not telling my fellow deer hunters anything they don’t already know when I say that it’s absolutely unbelievable how well some animals can detect, and react to the slightest scent from potential predator or prey.
The sense of smell in some animals is so acute that they’re often described as “being able to smell in color.” To us “humanoids”, that concept is pretty much incomprehensible but that’s only because over the last few million or so years we’ve pretty much evolved away from the need to use our noses to put food in our bellies, keep predators off our backs, and a mate in our cave. They say that now our “larger brains” compensate for the decreased efficiency of our other senses. I don’t know about all that, but I do know that even though I might be able to tell if one of my neighbors has a barbeque grill going, I can’t always discern exactly what they’re cooking up for dinner, and I surely don’t want to waste a visiting privilege by “just dropping over to say hello” if all they’re doing is grilling a few tube-steaks.
On the other hand, fish (and I don’t mean just sharks) have their snoots so well dialed-in that they can indeed tell if the aroma up current is worth honing in on or is better off avoiding. As fishermen, we can and often do take advantage of this by considering the scent trail that our baits or lures leave in the water as we work them up, over and around the fish we pursue. Nothing speaks more to this than our use of fresh baits. In side-by-side comparisons, fresh baits almost always outperform baits that have been previously frozen or sitting on ice for a while. Sure there are times when the fish are so intent on feeding that without hesitation they will quickly whack the oldest and nastiest bait in the cooler, but you can bet they know what they’re doing and the quality of what they’re slurping down, it’s just that at that time, for whatever reason - they don’t care.
Of course, fishermen also know that there are too many times when fish “do care” about freshness and the quality of what we have hanging on our hooks, and it’s those times when anglers who make the extra effort to ensure that their offerings are fresh and smelling as good as possible will get the bites when others won’t. But, securing fresh bait isn’t always as easy as wandering into a local tackle shop because rarely will such patrons have the opportunity to purchase baits such as squid, shiners, clams, mackerel or ballyhoo in anything but frozen form. If they absolutely positively have to have “fresh”, anglers can sometimes catch their own bait such as clams, shiners, crabs, sand fleas, bunker or mullet. Or, if they’re willing to pay the premium price, folks can sometimes solve the problem by purchasing squid, fish, clams, soft crabs or shrimp at a local seafood market.
These days, scent appeal doesn’t just stop with natural bait. Over the past couple of decades, tackle companies have put a lot of research into the development of artificial lures and chemical compounds that either attract fish, stimulate them to feed or achieve some combination of both. Berkley’s “Gulp!” baits are an excellent example of just how far this research has come by providing a product that’s simple to use, easy to transport and store and catches the heck out of fish. In many situations the Gulp! lures have proven so successful that anglers have actually had better success with these scent-activated artificials than with fresh or even live bait. Historically, lure manufactures have focused mostly on developing artificials that invite fish to bite by sight (size, color, shape, or movement) or by sound (vibrations, rattles) but almost never by smell. Now it’s “all” about smell and it will be interesting to see in the future how stimulants to the three senses will be combined to produce products that will surly outperform even the best of what’s on the market today.
Anglers will sometimes enhance the scent from natural baits by soaking them in fish oil or certain products made specifically for that purpose. I’ve experimented a little with that myself but haven’t seen enough definite results for me to consider that the outcome was worth the effort. However, one scent trick that I often use when fish are visible but ignoring my bait is to squish it up in my hand or put a few slices in it to make it release more scent. We used to do that a lot when we would chunk for tuna and have finicky fish that needed a little extra incentive to take the bait. I’ve seen it work for sharks, dolphin and different bottom fish as well.
When the wind and rain comes through and our local waters turn into a murky mess it certainly doesn’t get any easier to catch a fish, but thanks to a few tricks, some new products and our scalely friends keen sense of smell, fishing in chocolate milk can still be both fun and productive.
Captain Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and captain of the charter boat “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
