I know Salmon University's salmon scenter has been the topic of conversation several times, but is anyone using them on a regular basis? What have your experiences been? I experimented with one last Saturday and preliminarily would say the DR with the salmon scenter got noticeably more strikes.

The only way I can see to know for sure if the scenter is making a difference would be to rig identical trolling setups (exact same flasher/lure with exact same leader length) set them at the same depth with the same amount of distance back from the clip, then switch the scenter back and forth between 'riggers. If the one with the scenter always gets the majority of the strikes, chances are it really works.

LF,

I'd be curious to know also... Been lots of talk on the board about them, but nothing really about results. The theory behind them makes perfect sense to me, however, I am a little skeptical still.

I guess SU is no longer selling them. They should be hitting the stores and marinas here shortly....

4Salt,
I agree. I have yet to test the scenters using identical everything. When I used the scenter, my leader lengths and hootchie setups were identical, but my flashers were slightly different as were the distances back from the clip.

I only put the salmon scenter on the DR ball after things slowed down late in the morning, but managed to get 3 hits to 0 over the no scent DR.

I'm going to give it a shot my next time out and see if I have similar results and may even use identical set ups.

We have played with them, but the results have been inconclusive. I am interested to hear if anyone really swears by them.

I've been using them all year and have been getting positive results. No scientific test just noticing more hits on the rigger with the salmon scenter on it. A couple friends have been using them and noticing the same positive reults.

Tom Nelson likes to say that salmon are attracted by three things:

sight

sound

smell

and their sense of smell is the most sensitive of the three - which I believe is true.
I just wonder if they primarily use smell for spawning purposes instead of to enhance feeding.

when i went to the salmon university class they said they had done tests similar to what 4salt mentioned. Their conclusion was that using their secret scent the number of hatchery fish was much higher. They were using fish pellets and thought the wheat in the mixture had imprinted on the fish from their earlier childhood days. The thought it was the wheat because the only other thing in the pellet was fish, which everyone already uses as scent. I dont use one currently, but I plan to get one. It only makes sense that it would help. The question is how much? It certainly wouldn't hurt anything....

I think it would be interesting to mess around with different scents. Adding something like smelly jelly or a more liquid scent to the pellets. Go half/half with the pellets in the base of the scenter and additional scents above the pellets. That way the added scents would seep down through the pellets and create a larger scent cloud.
I have the scenters and have noticed more hookups for Blackmouth. I haven't messed with them that much this summer yet, but plan to once the ankle heels from surgery (ruptured Achillies tendon).

Kev

I notice the tube version of the scenter is gone... They are now in pouches. Wonder if this is a one-time shot or if the pouches can be refilled? Anyone know?

As far as running a scent trail off the wires... use it attach a perforated snubber to the ball or made into part of the release and inject it with a liquid scent. Worked great! Problem was... it got expensive. So I abandoned that method. Another trick is to drill a very small hole or poke a hot needle in the underside of a plug and place some liquid scent in there.

The new scenter is not designed to be refilled. Bummer. They are about $5 for a pack of two and are mesh bags about 3" around. Saw them at Silver Horde.

-David

Thanks for the info DL.

That's exactly what I was looking for, one more thing to spend money on before I go out fishing!

Heck I was willing to spend $80 on two of the old kits plus two extra bags of pellets! Glad they never showed up to the house now! I really liked the refill idea. But my perspective has change at $5 a pop! I guess I don't need to try them that bad. Plus, the snubber trick is a lot cheaper.

Wonder how many of the old scenters were sold at $25 before they decided to change to the one-time shot? Bad juju in my book!

Just what all fishermen need- spend more money every time we head out on the water.
Just one more reason to be strictly a hardware guy on the water these days.

I'm kinda skeptical too. If SU is not selling them anymore, does anyone know where you can get one. I'd like to give it a shot. Figure it sure can't hurt.

Hey DD,
I know where you can get them....I'll give you mine. What a waste! Rick68 and I bought a couple at the Sportsman show and they don't even touch the water anymore. Don't think we ever caught a fish over 18 inches while we were running them.

I know I'd never spend the money for them again.

UM

I would like to try out the downrigger balls that cabelas sells that has the scent chambers in them. They look like they may work pretty good.

I agree with you Downriggin'. I'm a little disappointed with the way they worked this. Seems like they should at a minimum keep selling the bait for those guys who bought a bunch of the tubes for 20-25 bucks a pop. I've still got some pellets left, but once they are gone I will have to go to the source for more.

First, I need to to do some more testing to see how well the scenters really work. I'm going to Canada for 7 straight days of fishing, so shoudl have ample opportunity to test mine out.

Duro,

Before you spend the extra bucks on those weights, give the snubber a try! Making the snubber is easy. Hot needle! The trick is getting the consistency of the mixture right so it bleeds out and last a little longer than normal.

JR,

If Dave passes the opportunity up, give that chuck of plastic to me... I wanna try a few experiments with it...