Significance

• Fish are adept at chemoreception, or detecting the presence of chemicals in water through a combination of smell and taste. Spray-on fish attractants attempt to take advantage of this sense.
  
  

Function

• These bait additives attempt to incite fish to strike by "smelling" like injured baitfish or a favorite food source, such as crawfish. Many fish attractants also boast the ability to mask unfavorable odors such as gasoline.
  
  

Types

• It seems as if every brand features its own combination of ingredients. Most include oils from natural food sources (shad, worms, etc.), plant/herbal extracts, and hormones or pheromones selected to trigger an aggressive reaction or instinctive urge to feed.
  
  

Do It Yourself

• Plenty of fisherman also create their own scents, grinding up bait and mixing it with ingredients such as garlic or anise.
  
  

Misconceptions

• While nearly every fish attractant on the market boasts the words "scientifically proven" somewhere on the label, the research behind such claims is cloudy. Like most fishing aids and techniques, the information available regarding the effectiveness of fish-attracting sprays is highly subjective.