I've heard numerous people over the years say that they use Taco Bell hot sauce on their lures to make the fish bite better. For some reason I was thinking about it today and trying to figure why hot sauce (mild or spicy) would be an attraction for fish. And would Jack in the Box hot sauce work just as well? Any thoughts?
Taco Bell hot sauce
- Thread starter Ken Jones
- Start date
In the early 80's a guy made a fishing show testing whether attractants on lures made a difference. He was fishing for salmon in British Columbia. He mounted a camera to the downrigger ball and kept count of how many salmon came up and looked at the lure and turned away without a strike. He also counted how many salmon ate the lure. For an extra data point he also counted how many salmon hit the lure multiple times before eating it. He ran the same lure on the other side of the boat with no scent added. He tried anise oil, several fishing store products, wd40, even tried rubbing his hands all over it to try and get human smell. Since wd40 was a known attractant he tried stirring the lure in dirty bilge water. His conclusion was most of the attractants helped. The best ended up being dirty bilge water followed by wd40. Not sure the reason why, but the oils seemed to get way more bites. Something like 2 1/2 times as many.
Ken, I believe attractants work in some cases, in others, it’s a waste of money. For example, a guy on a local SF Bay Area fishing show was saying he believed in hot sauce on his sturgeon bait. I do not really believe in putting scent on natural bait the first cast out, like lamprey eel. If you are going to recast the same bait after it has been sitting in the water an hour or two then I would add some scent if I had it or put on a fresh piece of eel.
On artificials, I see the salmon guys add “scent” all the time. Matter of fact, on those big Kwikfish, they magic string on anchovies, sardines, or tuna fish. And, go with a bottled scent that is proven like ProCure anise or bloody tuna. Some are a waste of time as I bought Smelly Jelly sturgeon frenzy and it was a total waste of coin. Smelled like ghost shrimp but I am convinced it doesn’t work (might even repel fish). Nothing beats good, natural, fresh bait by itself. For instance, if you bought threadfin Shad that wasn’t fresh, the Bang in the spray can could work.
On artificials, I see the salmon guys add “scent” all the time. Matter of fact, on those big Kwikfish, they magic string on anchovies, sardines, or tuna fish. And, go with a bottled scent that is proven like ProCure anise or bloody tuna. Some are a waste of time as I bought Smelly Jelly sturgeon frenzy and it was a total waste of coin. Smelled like ghost shrimp but I am convinced it doesn’t work (might even repel fish). Nothing beats good, natural, fresh bait by itself. For instance, if you bought threadfin Shad that wasn’t fresh, the Bang in the spray can could work.
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