Scent

F4A, I'm not trying to put words in your mouth with this post, so if I misrepresent what you were saying, please correct me.

F4A's post over on the main board got me to thinking about head cement and the scent it may emit. I regularly tie jigs one night and then fish with them the next day. However, F4A got me to thinking that that may be too soon considering he said that he sometimes waits 1 year before using steelhead jigs after they are tied to ensure that all scent from head cement is gone. So my question is, how long do yall wait before fishing a jig you have tied? Do you use them the same/next day like me or do you wait longer?

That's what I was asking too. Steelhead, it seems, are a much more finicky fish when it comes to scent. I have actually seen a school of steellies part and let a jig go through that was newly tied and finished with solvent based cement where the exact same jig didn't make it all the way to them before being slammed that had no cement on it at all.

I will not use a jig or any gear I put solvent based cement on within 2 weeks of making it. Does it matter, I don't know but it is already hard enough to catch crappie up here so why hedge the odds against me more than I have to.

I have tied and used jigs, with fingernail polish, with in a few hours of the jig drying - usually wait at least a day to dry. Granted they aren't steelhead jigs but waiting a year to use a jig.... There are a lot of odor neutralizers on the market - tried some – really don’t know if they worked or not – still caught fish.
VOCs (volatile organic compounds - where the smell comes from) don't linger that long.

Not being a steelhead fisherman or for that matter any trout, I would think that if the fish or that picky I would not use any cement of nail polish on flies or jigs use to fish for them. So you might unravel after a couple but so what, tie a bunch. One nice steelie per jig sounds fair to me, of course I'm a warm water fisherman and right now the water is getting pretty warm.

"gene"

I have had good catches on jigs I tied within 24 hours of tying them in the fall and winter.

I don't use scents, but I think I'm going to give them a try. Anyone have any brand recommendations?

Allright then. Sounds like I oughta give them a couple of days to dry. Thanks for the advice.

OKSTATE, as far as adding scents to your jigs, I use Berkley Crappie Nibbles. They're really good. You can also tip your jigs with minnow bits. I believe that the Nibbles add more scent to the water though.

Put a little cod liver oil and anise on it to mask the human scent and go ahead and fish! Makes for a nice fish attractant too. Just my 2 cents.