Scent additives or scented lures are good bets for flounder
New fishing tools arrive on the market every year, and many are considered more gimmick than innovation.
However, scent-infused lures and spray attractants have proven effective additions to any soft-plastic lure for most fish.
Some fish species can detect chemicals in the water better than others. To those fish that make their living in stained to murky waters, smell is a critical component of their livelihood. Flounder are one of those species that uses its olfactory sense to locate food.
Guide Bryan DeHart of Manteo, N.C., is a firm believer in using scented baits or adding attractants on his soft plastics.
“I will not target flounder without a scented bait, like Berkley Gulp, or another soft plastic sprayed with Pro-Cure,” he said.
Gulp uses a water-based attractant infused into the plastic. As soon as the lures hit the water, the scent begins to leave the bait.
Fish can detect scents and other chemicals in the water column, and it might not always be a “fishy” smell they key in on, either. Sometimes, it is bile or free amino acids, a sign of recent feeding by other fish. As a result, Pro-Cure uses custom forage flavors but will add amino acids to their formula to lure other predator fishes into the area.
While flounder use their duel-sided vision to locate their prey, an added scent trail will quickly get them in the feeding mode.
“Scented baits will definitely increase your chances of getting a fish to eat over a non-scented bait,” he said.
