home made soft plastics oil lube

i have some soft plastics (about five 10 packs of cocahoes) that i found in storage but the excess lube has dried up and just about gone so what should i use to relube them to maintain the clarity and elastic stretch to them?

from past experience i know leaving them dry will make them lose their stretch and will break easy after only a few fish so i want to prevent that if i can.

the key is i dont want to add a smell that could turn off the specks and reds but i just would like a cheap home remedy to use so i dont have to go to the store and buy some special oil.

i would rather ask someone here then listen to old wives tales or suggestions from non-fishermen.

what are your home remedies for oil lube or scents for coating your soft plastic swimbaits?

I've used cooking oils before. Anything like veg oil, or the flavored olive oils. Anyone else try anything like that?

You can buy some Anise Oil from Bass Pro or any custom lure making shop.

@ JB
thanks but, im hoping not to need to buy special oils, that kind of defeats the home made thing.

@ redtodabone
ok so veggie oil or olive oil would work. that can definately be found around the house but i thought whatever i used was best if it were flavorless? if adding flavor is better then my problem is i dont know what would smell the best to a speck ???

should i use the leftover grease from frying shrimp or add some of that store bought bait scent JB mentioned

can anyone else confirm veggie or olive oil is a good choice or suggest another idea or better way to add a good attractive flavor to it

If you have any Gulp, throw similar colored baits in the same container with the Gulp baits. I have a couple of different scents/liquids you can spray or dip your plastics into. My son, when he was just a little guy, made a believer out of me with the scents. Someone had given him a bottle and the rest is history. He'll be 40 soon.

If you don't want a smell try plain cooking oil. What about the oil they pack canned sardines in? Might be tasty to a speck...

It is fish oil based

when i was little, my uncle showed me that hard head catfish would bite on just a plain empty hook if you sprayed it with wd40 but i never saw it used by anyone to catch eating type fish.

Don't know if it true, but I was told that WD40 is made with fish oil.

It is a petroleum based product with Aliphatic Hydrocarbon compounds. It is not made with fish oil. Check out the MSDS: http://www.wd40.com/files/pdf/msds-wd494716385.pdf

well with my track record if you give me a 50/50 chance im definately going to be wrong 100% of the time so im very afraid of 'unknowingly' discovering the best fish 'repellants' by mistake lol.

i got a hard enough time catching fish even when they are biting much less risking unknown smells so i was really hoping to be able to having someone reply with a known scent specks like and i'd just stick with that or a home made version of it.

the testing of smells i will do on the redfish because you can see if they turn away from it or not most of the time but it wont be easy with specks since if you catch you arent sure if it was the smell or just the bait and if you dont catch you arent sure if its the smell or they are just not biting period.

How about using the oil out of
TUNA FISH & SARDINES .

i have always been concerned that specks tend to turn up their nose at things sometimes so i think if they are feeding on shrimp they kinda ignore fish flavored baits and vise versa if they are feeding on fish they wont pay much attention to shrimp flavored baits.(just my uneducated opinion)

so unless im completely wrong on this i guess the best solution is to use brand new 'unscented' veggie oil for keeping plastics like new then have a few jars of scented oils for dipping baits into.

i tasted the extra virgin olive oil and its not very strong but you can taste a slight olive taste to it, i will have to try the tuna in oil and the sardines in oil. i think i'll try some leftover fish grease and also some of that store bought shiner scent for crappies mixed 50/50 with leftover fish grease and see what the fish think about these flavors.

it would be interesting to hear about everyones secret home made scents and how well they work

Interesting discussion. Trout feed mostly by sight, and with the exception of Gulps (in which 20 years of product development occurred), adding any kind of oil will hurt your chances at trout. Other fish that rely on scent, it may actually help. It has to be something that makes sense though such as a fish oil or a fish stock....I mean, why would any fish like Canola oil?

I'm an old-fashioned kind of fishermen, and don't fall for most hype. However, the Gulps are the real deal, and sometimes (not always) are better than lures or live bait. To understand the difference between the Gulps and using oil scents, I recommend this article:

http://bassbuzz.outdoorsfanmedia.com/br_news_article.asp?thecat=2&id=331

well the ones in question are clear/glitter cocahoes that are turning foggy white and losing transparency from lack of oil, lube, or whatever it is that they come with.

in the past when this has happened it isnt far beyond the dry to the touch stage that they tend to lose stretchyness and dont stay on the jig head or will split and tear after only catching 3-5 fish.

i often use the same baits for reds after the specks quit biting so i dont want to repell either fish from biting because of something i put on it.

i was hoping for a lively discussion here since we arent on the water together and im not asking for your favorite fishing spot so people can talk freely without needing to hide what they know if they know of something that works.

after all the info we brought up i guess the best thing to do is i'll leave the baits as they are and replace them as needed

as for the home made scents, im not too greedy (depending on the freezer situation lol) so if i get about 20 trout in the box i have enough to be happy so if the bite stops or it starts off as a very slow bite day i will try different things like the veggie oil thing.

im thinking leftover shrimp grease with salt and garlic powder added would be a good combination to try. seams like salt and garlic are flavors added to most baits and shrimp for salt water fish is like worms for fresh water fish.

if it doesnt work and i have to toss them then i only added stink to one or two baits not a whole bunch of them.

I believe when using artificial baits that the fish bite more on sight than smell anyway. If you look at the amount of time the bait is in the water it's almost impractical to think a fish has enough time to smell your bait 5-10 ft away and think 'yum that smells good'

I believe its more color and flash and a little something is moving next to me and it may be a meal so they go after it.

Just sayin.. Don’t over think it....I've caught fish on cigarette foil before

while its true i dont think smell makes a fish follow and grab a lure it can make the difference after a fish is following a lure and looking it over as to wether he grabs it or lets it swim away.

it could be as simple as just not smelling anything that makes them hesitate or it could be a familar smell that convinces a reluctant fish to just bite it anyway even if hes not sure about it.

your cigarette foil story wasnt the best analogy for your point since tabacco is a very strong odor and also if it was menthol either smell would stay with that foil for a while so it wasnt the best example but i agree with you anything shiny can work. i remember catching trigger fish at the rigs with the pull tabs off cans before when we ran out of bait and im pretty sure no natural food looks like a pull tab lol.

i think the whole smell thing is just when fish arent that hungry or just arent that active and are following baits the smell of a scent trail can trip the instinct trigger for fish to grab it instead of let it swim away

Just watch the ones that make a living fishing they never spray anything on their baits. They also all have foot control trolling motors and fish fast. They make a ton of cast more than the average fisherman. As they put it they are looking for the active fish. Now watch a TV show and you will see them spraying everything from their rods and reel to the baits. They are selling equipment not making a living catching fish. Most of your TV shows guys got out of the fishing catching business for money. Now hear this remember the old Helicopter lure which sold what 40million lures. Did you ever see a fisherman fishing for a living use it no but the guy on the bank was throwing it all day lol.

The cigarette foil story is great, but that's actually not unusual if trout are really turned on. Capt. Charlie will use a bare hook with a piece of towel under the birds because the towel won't tear. In that situation, the trout are in a frenzy and just going after movement.

In general, you have to know your prey. Redfish are built to root around for crabs (80% of their diet), and they use smell plus movement. You can actually catch reds in dirty water. Drum grind away on oysters but will hit shrimp and go after scent; drum are frequently caught on the Causeway with Gulps. Catfish are scavengers with whiskers and feed almost exclusivly on scent - they really love those new Attrax lures, which have a built in scent, as well as anything smelly. Stopped using Attrax this summer after that. Sheephead feed on barnacles and want to nip at a bait, and they never hit a lure.

Trout feed mostly on sight, just how they are designed. Streamlined with great eyesight for pursuit and ambush. Trout in dirty water are much harder to catch for this reason. They often turn their nose up on dead shrimp but love live shrimp. One theory is because they want to ambush live prey, but perhaps they don't like strong smells. Who knows. When trout are 'on', its awesome, but I think an argument can be made they are the most finicky of local saltwater fish.

Bottom line......nature wants what it wants, you have to specifically fish the prey.

smany times they do turn their nose up at even the freshest of dead shrimp, even a live shrimp that just died they wont touch but there are times i have found fresh-dead shrimp works almost as well as live shrimp and at todays prices for live shrimp using fresh dead shrimp is soo much more cost effective for the average fisherman. by fresh-dead i mean the meat is still semi-clear and as you mentioned no strong smell to them such as those caught within the last 12 hours.

if you want to keep bait on hand in your freezer it should be fresh shrimp within hours of being caught, immediately deheaded and washed very well to remove head fat and i break off the tail horns to not poke holes in the ziplock bags. IMO if you are going to use your own frozen bait, its most important the shrimp not be frozen more then a few weeks.

i will usually look to buy a pound or two right off the local shrimp boats when i can but please dont go asking them for a 5gln bucket or ice chest full as most boats are commited to sell all their shrimp at the dock so they really cant sell to you.
(but a handfull or two for a 6 pack of beer or a few bucks can often be aranged)

any bait shrimp out of your freezer, if it is more then 2 weeks old, is starting to decay and is only good for catching reds, drum, and sheephead. if its a month old or more its still ok for catching reds, drum, and sheephead but for the most part it will atract mostly catfish.

it is my belief that the trout (white or specks) have a very sharp sense of smell and can smell even the slightest decay and bacteria growth which turns them off, specks first then white trout in that order of how picky they are. i think this is why white trout prefer freshly cut up white trout strips to any other meat they bite on even prefered over fresh shrimp at times.

WD-40 changed the fish base formula over 30 years ago

WD-40 changed the fish base formula over 30 years ago

I use clear mineral added to the baits in the plastic bag. It works for me.

correction- I use clear mineral oil.

That's funny. What'd you bust the big ones with? Been thinking about bringing my M-4 to the woods for a pig slaughter... Colorado Springs Mobile Mechanic