Can fish smell humans

[Guest The Carpster]

Hello all

I have heard someone say that carp can recognise human smells humans off your hookbait-this is why some fish shy away from your hookbait.I think this is an interesting theory but is it true? Could somebody please shed some light on this subject. Cheers

[Guest mpbdsnu]

Hello the Carpster - if it were true, then we would never catch anything???????

 

That should evoke a response!

[Guest gray-catchpole]

at last a decent question, weve been missing these lately, i dont know the answer, but i have read that some people dont wash the day before they fish, so there are no soapy smells on there hands, cant say ive tried it but it sounds interesting,

 

good topic Carpster

[Guest Steve Burke]

Fish can definitely smell human scent. We have an amino acid on our hands called L-serine that fish can detect. Some people have more than others, which may be why they catch less when all around are catching. Human scent can be covered up by flavourings etc, which is another reason for groundbaiting.

 

I'll add just one practical example. In an experiment on a river in America, salmon could run up either of two channels. When a human put his hand in the water the fish stopped using that channel and switched to the other one.

 

For futher information of the fish's sense of smell see Bruno Broughton's piece, Sweet Smell of Success, in the articles section of Anglers' Net.

 

------------------

Wingham Fisheries

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/fisheries/wingham.htm

[Guest mpbdsnu]

May I respectfully suggest, Steve, that in the case of the salmon you use as an example, it would more than likely have been the vibration in the water caused by the hand!

 

Can I also please ask you: How do you know that fish can detect the amino acid L-serine?

 

In the mean-time, I will look at Bruno's article - thank you.

[Guest Jenni]

I would think it highly likely that carp could detect human smells. Their olfactory senses are highly developed - about 2 million times better than ours. Whether it would make any difference compared to the much stronger smell of that Oh-so-tempting monster crab boilie I don't know!

 

Jenni

[Guest Ian Cresswell]

Originally posted by mpbdsnu:

an I also please ask you: How do you know that fish can detect the amino acid L-serine?

 

Go to a good search engine and use 'L-serine' and 'fishing' as your search words.

 

I tried this on http://www.google.com and it turned up some interesting well informed stuff.

 

HTH,

 

Ian.

[Guest poledark]

Thats as good an excuse for not washing as I have heard. Could therefor be argued that the length of time between wash's is more important than the bait.

 

I bet it wont be long before we have a new bait on the market " incorporating all the latest skin amino's"

I may have to study the personal habits of the Top man on my local lake. Just one other comment, do any of you know of a suitable testing lab who would be prepared to analyse the scrapings that I shall be taking from this guys fingernails?

 

[This message has been edited by poledark (edited 03 March 2001).]

[Guest mpbdsnu]

What about tickling trout??? Are they not put off from human smells - L-serine and all? When a child did you not catch the tiddlers with your hands? If you put a hand in a stream with small fish present they soon swim over the hand and are obviously not bothered by it!

 

Who was it many years ago, who put a scarecrow in a small lake(?) to get the carp accustomed to its presence and watched them whilst perched in an overhanging tree? After a few weeks he took the scarecrow out and stood there in its place - after a while there were loads of BIG carp all round him - were they put off - NO!

 

A very interesting article by Bruno bye the way, and thanks for the google idea Ian - I'm still exploring that one and others!

[Guest Ian Cresswell]

Originally posted by mpbdsnu:

Who was it many years ago, who put a scarecrow in a small lake(?) ...

 

Chris Yates in A Passion For Angling.

 

Ian.

p.s. the 'small lake' was Redmire:-)

 

 

[This message has been edited by Ian Cresswell (edited 03 March 2001).]