WD-40: Miracle Fish attractant or Not?

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

I'm one of those who thinks NOT. Supposedly it had fish oil in it long ago (unverified), but not now.

It is nothing but petroleum based chemicals, oil and propellent.

But people still swear by its fish catching attributes, and everyone has a story about it..

So are you one of the WD-40 devotees or a skeptic?

[chris kowaleski]

I've heard about this as well, along with that it catches fish. But I'd rather not put that stuff in the water i'm fishing.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

that's where I'm at Chris. I've heard all the claims for a long time now. I tried it a few times with no effect. But if you read the MSDS for WD 40, well... you gotta wonder.

There is a common notion that it has fish oil in it, or that it used to. For sure that is not true today... and I've not found anything to suggest it ever was.

So, what about those people who make the claims and sweat by its fish catching ability?

[chris kowaleski]

The only thing I can think of is because that it's scented, catfish will try to eat whatever it's sprayed on, because I've heard of people just using straight up chunks of bar soap to catch catfish as well. It's probably that and the people haven't tried using cut bait haha.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Because bar soap is made from a base of fats (often animal fat) they leave an amino acid trail that appeals to catfish. This is the same reason they are drawn to liver, stink baits and cut bait. It isn't because they love nasty stuff... it is because they are drawn to the protein acids released by these things in the water.
It could be they detect "something" different in the scent of WD-40. But in my tests, it doesn't stay on anything long enough to do any good.
I'm guessing there is something else going on.