…could you make your own haniwipe setup.. say take one and soak it in something like garlic and then put it in a zip loc bag.. and when ready wipe the fly down with it…
.. I have used FG’s idea of wiping the fly in the sand etc at waters edge.. from what I saw it did not distort the fly.. or damage it.. that I could see anyway.. what I did was gently pust the fly into the soft soil at waters edge.. bring it out.. and then let it sit in the water for a second or two before casting it..
tbh. I cause more damage to my flies trying to cast then than I think this little bit of dirt does… [:)]
DryRod wrote: have you ever rubbed your flies in gravel & sand?
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Yes, many times. More like lightly stroking the fly through it or gently squeezing it around the fly. Then swishing it in the water a bit.
I say gravel as that is what I find in the river the most but if there is more mud than gravel next to me that is what I grab rather than the gravel.
It does not mess the fly up.
Having said all that I can not say that it has caused me to catch fish but when the catching gets tough it is something I make sure I resort to.
Sometimes I take things too literally. When someone says rub, that action requires friction. Glad that you mentioned lightly stroking. Now that makes sense to me. Don’t like the veggie thing huh? LOL[;)]
Having said all that I can not say that it has caused me to catch fish but when the catching gets tough it is something I make sure I resort to.
That is so true Scruffy. When your best ain’t working, pull out the get rid of my smell card for sure. It could make a crappy day a great day. (although by crappy I mean no fish cause anytime on the water is to be charished, you know what I mean)
DR, I push the gravel away till I get to sand or mud, lay the fly down and cover it…no rubbing. I did tell you Orvis actualy sells a little container called MUDD. I have one, you only need a little and you can refill it yourself. It is good mud, if there is such a thing.
Macfly, you could put a clove of Garlic or some Aneas (sp) oil in you fly box and that could work well but as already mentioned, there are waters here that prohibit any sent or flavoring. I am not sure they would know in this case, but I know I couldn’t do it…thought about it on bad days LOL
… dont know about you sis but I would not consider garlic or anise a flavor as much as a scent cover.. I think there is a difference..
a flavor is designed to be an attractant.. something the fish will smell and recognize and is attracted to.. fish oils etc is what I am referring to..
.. garlic or anise or even a touch of honey (dont know why I am stuck on that idea).. or just running your fly thru mud.. or clover.. or grass is used to cover other scents..
maybe in the long run they are all one in the same.. but I do understand how you say you could not do that in waters where it is illegal.. especially on slow or bad days..
.. in my case most days I think about putting something on the flies.. piece of bait.. powerbait.. store bought attractant.. but like you I cant seem to make myself do it.. now if I switch away from flies then anything goes as long as it is legal.. [:)]
Hey there Saberfish I think that you missed the point of discussion. Although we did deviate quite a bit. What if anything do you do to mask potentially offensive smells from your hands and or flies? I personally don’t do anything with my flies, but I will wash my hands in the intended water & rub them in what ever vegetation is in the area.
… dont know about you sis but I would not consider garlic or anise a flavor as much as a scent cover.. I think there is a difference..
I don’t think when you put it on your hands it matters but when you put it on the fly it also does matter. It can be considered scenting by the inforcement officers and can not be done legally in some places.
If I do anything I do as dryrod says. rub my hands in the grass, bushes or in the gravel or mud.
**Just wanted some further clarification. But for sure everybody is entitled to their opinion. That is what makes the world go around. Let me narrow this conversation down to personal scent. Is there any hand soap that doesn’t contain some type of scent? Like before I leave the house I need to use a sun-screen lotion. Washing my hands with regular soap [soft soap or neutrogena] I don’t believe will get the job done. Saberfish since you mentioned a couple of products, how confident are you that they will remove odors that might be offensive to the fish and not replace it with it’s own scent? Now you also said “Fish usually strike a fly by sight feeding rather than scent attraction in a river”. But I’m inclined to think that once a fly is taken, if it has some offensive odor it is quickly rejected. Believe that in light of this subject that I will contact some major producers of cleansing products to see if they produce a totally scent free soap. Good subject and responses from all.
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I think that the scent thing can be carried too far. At the most extreme, one could wear surgical masks and gloves.
Strong scents that are not offensive to fish should not be a concern. I remember once, 100 years ago, I fished Twin Lakes in southern Idaho with several friends. At the time, I was wearing a strong cologne. Out of a group of about 6 fishermen, I was the only one that couldn’t keep the fish off my hook. (bait of choice was worm and marshmallows).
We determined that it was the cologne, and the following week, I took the bottle with me.
All of us caught fish that weekend, and even with that limited experiment, it became a staple at Twin Lakes for everyone in the group.
Point being that I personally believe that only offensive odors effect fish to any great extent.
… my last comment may of been wordy but the point I was trying to make.. or distinquish is I wont use commercial scent (like fish oils etc..) nor do I use other attractants like powerbait on my flies.. that would be the same as using live bait on it..
.. I wont say I have not been tempted to use “something” to help in my lack of catching fish.. but like FG I cant bring myself to do that..
Scruffy made a great point that anise and other products mentioned may still be considered an “attractant” by the powers that be.. if that is the case then I wont use those either..
.. so to me it all goes back to what I originally said.. wash your hands.. even in the lake water.. and before using a fly I will drop it into the mud or whatever and then let it be rinsed in the water I am fishing.. to me that is the most natural way to try to cover any unwanted scents..
it seldom ever gets washed, just hung to dry, I hate when I have to get a new one because I have to have a good day for it to work…
I dont wipe my lures or flies or any thing else with it, just my hands and ocationaly hold on to a fish if I have to go deep with hemostats…
ya that makes my towl smell fishy, no I dont put it in a bag, it needs to dry or it will rot… even after it drys you wipe your hands your hands will smell like fish, just handling the towl with your hand and then handling your fly or lure is enough to transfer fish oil sents..
I learnt this trick from an old timer on the ice… not many more of them left, well It looks like I am getting to be the old timer any more… I am the oldest regular any more. any way, first thing they would do was pull their towl out and wipe their hands… and they would start pulling up fish, more and bigger, sitting right beside me… LOL
you can also use a fish attractant to add to it if you find one you like that works for you, you dont need much, just enough to get the smell in, few drops and then wipe your hands… You can go to heavy on the sent, that can be just as bad as a poorly tied representation of a fly…
so to put it short, Yep, you are on the right track… just no baggies, the towl has to dry out…
you could probably get away with a wash cloth size towl put a grovet in it and a clip so you could hang it on your vest some where…
I actualy wash my hands in the mud along shore spring summer and fall before I start fishing, even if it is ice cold… drying my hands on my towl revitalizes it and puts the smell of fish on my hands…
I have washed my hands in snow as well, and even when I thought my hands was clean I still get dirty water drippings…
if your in an area ristricted from artificial sents, the old fishing towl with out aritfical sents is a working peice of art.. Just dont clip it to close to your face…
deer hunting sent free soap has no perfumes in it. and is nearly sent free, I cant smell it when I put it up to my nose..
but the absolute best soap is not an artificialy sented soap but a nutral soap. Oatmeal, It is made with milk and oatmeal. I dont remember If I mentioned this or not..
I have gone on a crusade in my area to find Oatmeal soap. I used to get it at a farm market here, but that place has gone out of business, I figured twenty bars would last me a life time…
any way pick up your phone book, call around, make sure it dosnt have perfumes in it… I have found a dozen brands of oatmeal soap in the last couple weeks, all with perfumes… If I find it I will deffenantly pass its where about on to you…
not only dose oatmeal soap nutarlize any acids on your hands including your own, it puts the elasticity back in to your skin… Meaning pinch your arm hard for about eight seconds “not to the point where it draws blood” let go and clock how long it takes for your arm to go back to normal, if it takes longer than thirty seconds then your elasticity is poor… “mine is poor” I refuse to use prefumed oatmeal soap… I dont want the guys on the river getting the wrong idea about me..[sly]
My unkle was a strong beleiver of sents, he spit on every thing he ever thew in to the water, flies, worms, minnows and plugs… that was the only sent he ever used…
if you go with a towl, and wipe your hands on it after catching a trout, I dont think that would fall under the catigory of attractant,
I think it would fall under the catigory of alcoline smell that is nutral and has much the same smell as the water you are fishing in, just a bit more concentrated…
