hand contaminants?

[chris kowaleski]

What are some things that one should avoid handling before fishing? Like something that would be a bite deterrent for the fish.  I'm not sure if i've had this problem before, but i would like to know so i don't have to worry about it.

[Leo Nguyen]

1. Sunblock/sunscreen

2. Petroleum products such as oil, gasoline, or petroleum distillate materials.

3. Your bodily fluid

4. Putrified scents combined with live proteins (live baits hooking up, after you mess around with catfish stuff, or scented liquid plus live baits).

To mask the scents, use the local water weeds, vinegar, or lots of salt to mask/strip your skin of the unwanted oils/scents.

[chris kowaleski]

ahh i kinda forgot about this! thanks again Leo!  well, i've applied sunscreen while out fishing before, and i managed to still catch some fish. i wonder if i would have caught more without... hmmm. so i could just "wash" my hands with a bunch of salt if i needed to and it should take care of it?

[Leo Nguyen]

Salt is good to use. However, if there's underwater/floating weeds/algae, use that. The scent from the plant's mineral and oil will strip and mask your hands nicely from all the uninviting manmade scents. ONLY WHEN you don't see the water weeds or plants near by, then use salt. Salt will attract the fish, but at the same time, too much salt will scare them away. The rule of thumb is 1 tbsp of salt when needed. Add only enough water to make the salt gritty enough to rub on your hands, like a very very coarse lotion. Any more than 1tbsp, you're drying your hands up, and may scare the fish due to the high salinity level molecular interaction in the water. That's another organic chemistry and physics lesson altogether.

[chris kowaleski]

hmm that's very interesting, thanks again Leo!

[Vic Tankersley]

Chris, Leo has just about nailed all the bad scents that will slow down or turn off the bite. The only thing I can add is don't pee in the water. It may not stop the bite but it will stink up the place..LOL

[chris kowaleski]

haha!