Old Salty Ramblings

Trips: 43 Hours: 96.0 Bass: 551 No. > 5#: 1

From a conversation I had on a smallmouth board last week...

"OK, I'll play...

There is nothing special about salt, at least that I've ever seen tested, outside of manufacturers claims that fish hold "their" salted baits longer, and I wouldn't put much stock in that. The blood/salt taste theory is just that. It could just as easily be the case that the fish is tasting one of hundreds of posssible proteins, metals, fats, carbohydrates or amino acid combinations when it bites into something it wants to eat. We just don't know.

On how long a fish will hold an unsalted or unscented piece of plastic, it just depends. I've actually timed this for myself before out of curiosity. I've had fish hold on as long as 45 seconds or more before finally getting my bait back, all the while that fish is happily carrying that piece of plastic, hook and monofilament all over the damn cove. That's an awful long time! Sit at your desk and stop reading this post and time off 45 seconds on your watch before coming back and reading the rest of this...it's an eternity. I think there are numerous reasons or theories that could affect the length of time including individual preferences among bass, immediate competition from other bass for that item, pressure, taste, weight, realization of it being non-edible, or any other unnatural component.

Try this experiment...the next time you're drifting your tube for smallies, bury the hook point all the way into the tube and then don't set the hook on the bite. Just jiggle the bait in his mouth to make certain he's still holding on with slight pressure and see how long he'll actually hold onto your tube before letting go. Count off 1001, 1002, etc. until he lets go. It might be an eye opener.

The theory on adding salt as a way of evenly weighting a bait is interesting, as I have to admit I've never seen a manufacturer claim that as a reason for adding salt. The same goes for the "crunch" theory of a salty bait being more "textured" and appealing to a bass. It is true to a degree, of course (even weighting), which is why the Senko does what it does. But this only applies to unweighted baits, which most of us don't fish in any type of current. The minute you add lead into the picture, you completely negate any balanced fall unless that lead is added to a location near the center of mass for that bait.

Lead has a density that is more than 5X that of salt, so a tiny bit of lead will quickly overshadow any salt a manufacturer can add. It turns out that you can only add just over 30% salt by volume to a bait and still have enough plastisol left in the mix to be able to hold the bait together in any fishable form. It is also true that sand makes just as good a substitute for salt, and has the added benefit of not holding water and swelling up like a balloon on steroids. Sands parent material quartz has a density of 2.65 g/ml versus salts 2.17 g/ml. Lead BTW is about 11.4 g/ml.

So count me as a skeptic when it comes to salt, garlic, anise, or any other special additive added to plastics. I certainly don't go out of my way to find unscented baits, but I also don't go out of my way to find and buy any particular scented ones either. As discussed in another thread that has started up today, shape and presentation of plastics is way more important (IMHO) than any scent factor, especially in a moving water scenario."

Related links of interest:

• Dr. Keith Jones weighs in on the subject
• MarkG's Gravimetric Analysis
• Another MarkG Comparison

Comments

[Richard Ziert]

Salt of the Earth.

Sodium cloride. Without it we or any other creature would not exist vas we know it. Water, salt, oxygen, sunlight, and processes all come together to form our perception of our world. Salt on /in baits is only natural. From one old salt to another, taste life. . . as you have been and beyond.

[Big Indiana Bass]

Reminds me of an old Star Trek episode Rich. I can't post pics to the comments section, so here are the links:

http://www.magickrituals.com/saltsucker.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Trap

While salt is truly natural to many living things, in the context of the original discussion on the other board, there is nothing to suggest that a salted/or unsalted bait makes any difference to a bass in relation to his feeding. Too much of a good thing (even salt) can kill you know. At the rates of salt in a Senko, might not bass actually be repelled by the concentration/taste much as a person is to a highly salted beverage [margaritas excluded - :) ]??

[Paul Roberts]

I'm always skeptical about claims surrounding fishing, since so little science is applied. Skeptical, not closed-minded.

After reading Keith Jones book I'm more even skeptical about salt as a taste factor for bass.

Even in unsalted plastics I've too often had bass swallow them, and I've gone barbless.

One big drawback to heavily salted baits that I really dislike is that they tear and crumble. I really hate that.

[Paul Roberts]

O yes, another comment:

Ralph Manns (sorry Rich) noted that the bass he feeds dead shad to had to get within "a couple inches" of the shad before they recognized them as edible -until they were trained that is.

Bass are primarily visual and that accounts for the majority of strikes. I'm not closed to scent but I'm not putting much money or effort into it.

[Richard Ziert]

You guys are funny - for sure.

[Big Indiana Bass]

Good to hear from you again Paul! Hope the fishing and "experiments" are going well out West.

And Rich, I'm glad we can amuse you :) It is a shame it is so tough to get a good discussion going over on the BFHP. In regards to the post you made about boiling water in a pot...Are you saying the sides of a lake (the Earth) are acting in a similar heating scenario by transfer of energy, in this case heat (to create a thermal mass) to the adjacent water?

[Richard Ziert]

Pots and Lake Basins.

Yes, when the small bubbles form at the edge of or on the pot wall just before coming to a boil, it's just like a lake basin and its heat set up. Of course the heat for the pot is coming from beneath and the heat for the lake basin comes from above. But the reaction is the same.

Thermoclines form from the top down. They form in the middle of the lake and at their sides moreso than just from the middle. Mid lake water deals in depth and floatant on it - in it to make the heat progress. The density of that water is nothing compared to the basins. At the side of the lake the basin holds and reflects more heat simply because it's more substantial. Remember the part of my study where I went on about dark bottoms and their heating capabilities. Well, the basin/walls do the same thing in comparison to the reletive nothingness of the mid lake water column. So when a thermocline forms it's a combination of mid lake formation and moreso shore oriented formation all pushing downward as the season progresses. That is also another reason the thermocline is not uniform all over the lake. The activity and structure of the near shore basin from place to place has a great effect on how the traditional thermocline sets uo.