For Having a Brain the Size of a Pea, A Bass Does OK

I perhaps never would have pursued this topic if it weren't for the two days I spent in the company of my friend, Skip, and that jar of Smelly Jelly he kept dipping into. I finally have quit smelling that stuff, but I don't think I'll ever be able to forget its horrendous odor. And that, my friends, is what got me to digging around on the Internet the last several days.

Back when I started out bass fishing, there were some scents on the market, and I dabbled with a few but never achieved a degree of success that made me feel like they were much help. That, coupled with the fact I had recurring problems with spilling liquid versions in my boat, was enough reason for me to chalk up bait attractants as a bad idea. Consider that I came to the same conclusion about those jumpsuits everyone--especially club members--wore back in the day.

Imagine my surprise, however, when, during this latest research, I learned that the reported annual sales from fishing scents now run in the neighborhood of $40 to $50 million. I also learned that more than 50 manufacturers have, at one time or another, marketed scent products.

One can only assume, from these numbers, that fishermen, as well as manufacturers, have been keeping up to date with the work being done by research biologists. A few years ago, for example, a study was conducted on the taste and smell of a bass in a tank of 100 gallons of water. In this study, the bass was found to be able to taste (or smell) 1/200th of a drop of a substance in the 100-gallon water tank.

And tests by the late bass researcher Dr. Loren G. Hill (the same fella who invented the Color-C-Lector way back when) showed that bass can detect a preyfish odor source at a distance of 25 feet. Only the bass's sense of hearing is capable of greater range under normal water-clarity conditions.

A bass has a pair of nostrils, or nares, on each side of its head, between the eyes and upper lip. Each nostril has two openings, separated by a bridge of skin. Water circulates continuously through these short passages, where microscopic, hair-like cilia detect odors. At no time during this process, though, does water enter the throat.

As a bass swims about, water movement is enhanced, and the nostrils are constantly in use. A membrane tissue, called the olfactory epithelium, consists of complex folds that line the nostrils. This membrane greatly increases the total surface area and the bass's receptive scenting powers. Within the epithelium, odor molecules activate millions of olfactory receptor nerve cells, which send a message to the olfactory centers of the bass's brain, where the odor is interpreted.

As a bass ages and grows larger, the number of olfactory folds increases. It has been found that young, 4-to-6-inch largemouth bass have five or six folds. A 12-inch bass may have 10 folds, while one 20 inches in length may have as many as 20 folds. It also has been found that the diameter of the olfactory organ itself grows with age. Most scientists thus conclude that older bass have a better developed sense of smell.

I reckon that explains why so many anglers are buying so much fish attractant nowadays. As many of them will tell you, though, it's not just a matter of finding something to appeal to the fish's senses. It's also a matter of finding a scent to mask the human odor. That's why some anglers I read about in this most recent research advertised for applying scents directly to your fingers and rubbing it onto the first 4 or 5 feet of fishing line.

It's hard for me to imagine anyone having the constitution to follow that advice with something as potent as Smelly Jelly, but I suppose there are a few hardy souls out there. I just hope I don't ever run into any of you.

The whole premise, after all, is to find something pleasing to the bass's sense of smell, so that he'll hold on for more than just one or two seconds. Good scents, according to what I read, will cause bass to hang on for as long as 30 seconds--long enough, generally speaking, for even the slowest of hooksetters to score.