Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Will WD 40 really catch Fish?

Just that?

Many years back I attended a sponsored program where the fisherman trolled underwater cameras filming saltwater salmon strikes and takes with all manner of lures, baits, and scents including WD 40. His best scent was bilge water which was a mix of all the fuel, oils, battery acid, and drinks that had dropped or leaked to the bottom of his boat.

One revelation for me was that for every take or hookup there had been about 20+ fish that had made an attempt or two and missed. One could troll for 1/2 hour thinking there were no fish about before having a successful hookup.

My take is that WD 40 probably won't harm one's chances.

Yes done it on king and coho salmon, and sturgeon numerous times

Used to spray it on our jigs and the cod seemed to like it.

Yes. Catfish will follow the oil slick. We spray chicken livers with it...blood and oil is powerful medicine.

We used to use it on our sturgeon baits... used to... not sure it's even legal these days.

I came away with the feeling that it worked best to simply cloak any human odor that was a turn off to the fish..? Anyway, it worked well enough that it was SOP on our vessel at the time.

Attended a seminar (walleye) and the guy was a fan. Basically said WD40 was basically aerosol animal fats in some proportions. Would basically leave that smell in its wake. Don't know how long it would actually cling to the lure tho.

I'm pretty sure it mainly gets rid of human scent but it seems to work. I lightly spray salmon flashers with WD-40 to get rid of human scent and the lure or bait get doused with a garlic/anise scent and bite stimulator. Seems to work.

Very interesting

Hank

How much does scent matter on moving baits that fish strike reflexively? Moving bait goes by, fish see's and/or hears/feels it chases bait down and pops the lure and the hook is set. Does scent matter in such a situation? I doubt it.

If you are dragging/hopping a slow moving bait along that a fish might study a bit before deciding to bite I see smell as more important. Especially something plastic like a grub, Ned rig, ect. where the bite might be subtle and the fish have the bait before the fisherman realizes it. There are some smell attractants on the market, one new one in particular that is supposed to be dynamite. Berkley Gulp, Strike King caffeine and the new Baitfuel make sense to me, WD40 not so much.

I use garlic Pam spray on plastic baits. Keeps them from sticking and bass don't seem to mind it.

My son in law has become as obsessive as I am about fishing and researched this question.

He said that there was whale oil in the original formula which is what made it effective as a fish attractant.

That isn’t to say it isn’t still effective, but may explain where the myth behind it originated.

The parent company of WD40 clearly says there is no fish oil or animal fats in their product. In fact, WD40 is 50% mineral spirits, the rest of the ingredients are a chemical "secret sauce.".

I’ve tried it on plastics for bass here in PA…it didn’t seem to make a difference one way or the other. Didn’t seem to turn them on, didn’t seem to give em lockjaw either.

Right; that’s why I spoke of whale oil in past tense

Kerosene with perfume

it works