Raising a Stink With Homemade Bait Scent/Attractant

While trappers and hunters have used various scents for years to mask human odor and attract their target animals, fisherman have used these devices too.  Some articles I have read get quite technical as to ingredients and why and how they work.  I have concluded, after much reading, that scent used on bait and lures does both…mask human odor and attract fish. But being a DIY type of person on some things, I also concluded that I can make my own and I have. 

Around the house here it is called “Stink”.  I have variously used mineral oil, which is the same as unscented baby oil,  glycerin (both available at your local drug store), water, cod liver oil, fish oil capsules (cut them open and remove the fish oil as the capsules will not dissolve), garlic powder, garlic salt, garlic cloves, anise, coffee and a  few other things along the way.

I first started by taking a pint jar filled half full of water and set it in a small pan of water which I brought to a boil.  I did this as I figured the jar would be easier to clean than the pan.  I added a small spoon full of garlic powder and garlic salt to the water in the jar and stirred a bit to get them to dissolve.  The garlic salt dissolves, the garlic powder does not.  I then poured mineral oil in the jar to fill it up stirring it around a bit and then poured the entire contents into a plastic ketchup or mustard dispenser available in most in grocery stores.  I added a few drops of food coloring, sprinkled in some “glitter” of the kind used in cake decorating and shook it up to get it all mixed in.

Well, you may have guessed it.  Oil and water do not mix and the garlic powder residue settles in the bottom of the container along with the glitter.  No problem.  It is just like some salad dressings that must be shook up prior to use.  I used this same basic recipe using actual garlic cloves cut up in small pieces with one small piece put in the container, coffee grounds for a coffee flavor, a drop or two of anise (It doesn’t take much) which is found in many commercial scents.  I ended up with six different combinations of ingredients with mineral oil and water as a base or mineral oil by itself as a base.

Next, I did basically the same thing using half glycerin and half water for the base and glycerin by itself as a base and I ended up with five different “flavors”.  I used the glycerin in an attempt to “thicken” the water as my trials at trying to do so with corn starch failed.  I also made up a cod liver oil and garlic formula and a half cod liver oil and half glycerin based formula.  The cod liver oil and glycerin tend to separate and requires a shaking prior to use.

I eventually obtained a small supply of 2 ounce plastic bottles with spouts and caps and transferred some of all the recipes into these bottles for taking along on my fishing trips and a few drops on a bait and/or lure is sufficient.  Do they work?  Who knows?  I have caught fish using the stuff and I have been skunked too.  

That brings up the point of “stink”.  Warning and Disclaimer!  Brewing this stuff in your house and especially in your kitchen may be hazardous to your domestic tranquility…it does raise a stink!  But no more so than that delicious garlic dip your wife makes and you eat with chips or crackers…that stuff stinks too.

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