To scent, or not to scent, that is the question? For anglers it’s not a question of why scent products work, but that they do increase the number of crappie they can catch. Lucky for anglers several companies have easy to apply crappie specific scent products in different formulas.
North Alabama crappie fishing guide Lee Pitts spends countless hours on the water guiding anglers on Weiss Lake aka Crappie Capital of the World. “Weiss Lake’s reputation as being the Crappie Capital of the World brings in thousands of anglers a year and puts an extreme amount of angling pressure along with boat traffic each year. I can really tell that crappie are getting wiser as I’m trolling with multiple rods out. To trick them into biting, I trick them into thinking the soft plastic Bobby Garland Crappie Baits are real by spreading some Mo’Glo Slab Jam on them,” said Pitts.
Pitts (www.leepittsoutdoors.com) noted it’s the same thing as a hunter removing the human or negative scent from their clothing. He doesn’t want any negative scent from gassing up the boat or sunscreen on his hands that could get on his lures when changing or adjusting the lure.
In addition to applying Bobby Garland Mo’Glo Slab Jam (www.bobbygarlandcrappie.com) sometime Pitts will attach a small scented pellet to the hook making it more attractive. “One other tip I can give you about scent is I put a little Mo’Glo Slab Jam on my fingers in the morning so every time I touch the lure it is rubbing the scent onto the lure. That way, I know for sure the crappie are smelling something they will want to bite,” said Pitts.
One scent that crappie anglers are going crazy over is Crappie.com SlabSauce. All you have to do is look at all the positive testimonies given by crappie anglers on Crappie.com to see how effective it is when applied to soft and hard bodied lures. Unlike Mo’Glo Slab Jam, SlabSauce (www.crappie.com) is an oil based attractant.
“It’s taken a number of years of testing to develop the perfect formula to attract crappie and get it to adhere to a soft plastic lure or hard body lure. In the end, Moes ended up with an oil based secret formula and currently offers it in the original or garlic formula. Slab Sauce holds on longer to a lure plus leaves a scent trail to incite crappie to strike the lure,” said Ed Moes with Slab Sauce. Typically, Moes reapplies SlabSauce after catching a fish or every 15 minutes.
Mitch Glenn with PICO Lures is a firm believer in the power of fish attractant on soft and hard bodied lures. His choice of attractant is Crappie.com SlabSauce. Truth is Glenn even sells SlabSauce (www.picolures.com) along with PICO Lures soft plastic lures and crankbaits.
“I almost never fish without first putting some SlabSauce on my lures. I put SlabSauce on a lure and then reapplies after catching a fish or every 15 minutes. It’s perfect for applying to our Scented Ring Tube or Scented Ring Pointer that’s designed to hold liquid fish attractants better and for a longer period of time,” said Glenn.
Interestingly, Glenn and other crappie anglers have taken to applying SlabSauce to PICO Lures INT Crankbaits. “I have been told by crappie anglers the dimples of the PICO INT Crankbait seem to hold the scent better than crankbaits with smooth bodies plus they say it leaves a scent trail making it easier for a crappie to be attracted to strike,” said Glenn.
To scent or not to scent? Doesn’t seem like much of a question for crappie anglers. The answer is scent!
