Can crappie smell?

I know this is a old question here on crappie.com. But researchers are finding answers to these questions everyday. Do crappie smell or taste scents are they scientific proof that adding scents to artificial baits is worth the trouble. I know that catfish smell scents from very far distances as I have used them in the past years to catch catfish. I have also used anise as a scent for bass with some good results. I have heard people use vanilla scents for bream. I have read past posts of positive and negative on where are not crappie are caught with the help of scents. Seems no one really knows for sure or I didn't read that post. I see that some think anise, garlic,and worm oil are good scents. Well is there any new proof or articles that you can share on this.

They've got "noses" (well, actually "nostrils" ).... so yeah, they can smell. I believe they use their sight and vibration sensing lateral lines, first & foremost, but they can definitely smell/taste through their nostrils.

I don't know as there has been any "scientific studies" about Crappie & their ability to smell or distinguish good smells from bad, as it were ... but, a Google search for "can crappie smell scientific proof" did offer a few articles that were interesting. I particularly liked the In-Fisherman article, the 1948 School for Fishermen, and some of the Google books pages.

JUST IGNORE the "old school secrets" link ... he's just trying to sell DVD's (and you can get better info, right here, for free !! ) And I make it no secret that I have a reason for my disdain for this man & his tactics ... and that is because he "stole" my method & its name (Vertical Casting) and posted it without so much as a mention of the originator or acknowledgement that it was someone else's intellectual property.

... cp :kewl

Yes, although they are primarily site feeders.

Looks like this is still up in the air as to just how well crappie react to scents and tastes. But it is good to know that if all else fails it doesn't hurt to try. As it is known now that they do have a nose(nostril) to sense of smell and tongue to taste with. I was in real hopes of biologist having scientific proof of this by now. Thanks for the information.

I found that crappie do smell if someone leaves them in a cooler for a few days.:Rofl

Per "Old Farmers Almanac" smell-Fish smell through two openings on their head. The sense of smell helps fish find food and warns of danger.

I believe they do and use scents and minnows often.

Gotta be careful with this one. Fish senses are much more integrated than ours are. The components are much more on the order of one super sense whose combination of components varies with the species of fish. No question that scent/taste is a part of that for both crappies and sunnies. More so for sunnies than crappies IMO and both have an excellent vision component. We have seldom added to the scents our plastics come with and generally don't have to, but in a real tough bite, it would probably make a difference for crappies. More often though we find a difference in color and/or movement (presentation) is more important for crappies.

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Originally Posted by Badgerloader

I found that crappie do smell if someone leaves them in a cooler for a few days.:Rofl

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My Mother-in-Law of almost 40 years used to say: "guests that stay for more than 3 days start to smell, just like fish" She passed away just last February 13, 2015 and she was my best crappie fishing buddy. I miss her everyday!!!

What are sunnies ?

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Originally Posted by brucec

What are sunnies ?

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Sunfish .... the nickname "sunnies" is usually used to encompass all species of sunfish, or what many call by the lump sum nickname of "bream". It's just used rather than specifically identifying several different species by their proper name ... like Bluegill, Green Sunfish, Longear Sunfish, Pumpkinseed, Redbreast Sunfish, Orangespotted Sunfish, Redear Sunfish, etc. (since they all have several nicknames of their own, as well, and vary according to state or region).

... cp :kewl

Thanks cp. Sorry for the confusion.

The species we have here in Minnesota are primarily bluegills, with some pumpkinseeds and green sunfish and the inevitable hybrids. Further west and south from the Twin Cities there are also orangespotted sunfish and there are rumors of northern longears also in Minnesota but probably those rumors are wrong. We are too far north for shellcrackers and other members of that genus. BTW it is illegal in Minnesota to use any of them for bait.

Sunfish (primarily bluegills) are often mixed in with crappies up here or perhaps it might be better to say that sunfish waves and crappie waves sometimes seem to alternate. Other times crappies will layer above or below sunfish layers. Generally we are talking about bluegills and black crappies around here (here being Minneapolis). Except when they are on the beds finding sunfish is often a signal that crappies may be around, too.

I was always told you should never fill up with gas or check the oil in your boat on the way to the lake because the smell would get on your hands and transfer to the bait you are using and affect the fish bite. So I thought they can smell.

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Originally Posted by Badgerloader

I found that crappie do smell if someone leaves them in a cooler for a few days.:Rofl

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Ask ReesGuide sbout that one

Not if pollen off trees has them all stopped up like the fishermen here . :Rofl

I have been in a boat on a few occasions when 1 person wasn't catching anything and others were doing good,,,I have had that person not catching to cut his jig off and let me or another who was catching to tie on a new one and have them wash their hands in the livewell water and handle some of the fish and they started catching the same after that. Note that the only way I fish is Jigging brush, so this would make more of a difference than trolling.

Negative odors/taste imparted to a lure will IMO definitely kill the attack. Ever have some stinky slime algae attached to your hook on the retrieve? NO fish will bite the lure. If you soaked the lure in gasoline, I doubt a fish would come near it after investigating it up close. As far a attractants are concerned, the only effective attractants are from a live source such as a hooked live grub or minnow.

Lures (again IMO), don't fool crappie or any other species into believing they represent anything in nature primarily because their DNA recognizes real from artificial. (I didn't write the work fake because that would suggest a copy of something meant to fool a fish.) Sight and maybe vibration have everything to do with why fish strike - uncontrollably if only for less than 30 seconds - sometimes the only opportunity to catch a fish. Anglers simply provoke fish into attacking.
I leave fooling fish to lure advertisers out to convince humans that fish have an IQ higher than a rock.

In other words, what fish don't know can kill them.

Yes they do. Don't be afraid to tip your baits. Especially when catching is slow.

I believe Crappie and most any fish can smell, I have found using Berkeys Crappie nibbles work better than a bare jig, and a minnow tipped jig will out fish a bare jig. I must confess I fish for Bass during the Summer when I am too busy with work to get My boat out, mainly farm pond hopping, one of My favorite lures are Bass tubes, most are impregnated with salt and newer ones are coffee flavored, I ahve noticed when the bite gets tough and I have a older tube on, if I change to a new fresh scented tube the results are much better, case in point would be last week when I used two week old tube that was tied on my pole that I keep in the back seat of my pick up, it finally got too tore up to stay on the weighted tube hook, I changed it out to a 2.5" strike king coffee favored tube, the first cast I had a bass tear off all the skirt. So I do believe fish as in any animal use any and all of there scences to survive.

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Originally Posted by Tom 513

I believe Crappie and most any fish can smell, I have found using Berkeys Crappie nibbles work better than a bare jig.

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I boght a bottle of Berkley Crappie nibble (pink color) yesterday. It's great to know that those work.

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Fish senses are much more integrated than ours are. The components are much more on the order of one super sense whose combination of components varies with the species of fish. No question that scent/taste is a part of that for both crappies and sunnies. More so for sunnies than crappies IMO and both have an excellent vision component. We have seldom added to the scents our plastics come with and generally don't have to, but in a real tough bite, it would probably make a difference for crappies. More often though we find a difference in color and/or movement (presentation) is more important for crappies.

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Well said! and true most of the time - even under the ice.

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/main-...atter-crappie/

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Originally Posted by scrat

I know this is a old question here on crappie.com. But researchers are finding answers to these questions everyday. Do crappie smell or taste scents are they scientific proof that adding scents to artificial baits is worth the trouble. I know that catfish smell scents from very far distances as I have used them in the past years to catch catfish. I have also used anise as a scent for bass with some good results. I have heard people use vanilla scents for bream. I have read past posts of positive and negative on where are not crappie are caught with the help of scents. Seems no one really knows for sure or I didn't read that post. I see that some think anise, garlic,and worm oil are good scents. Well is there any new proof or articles that you can share on this.

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I have try all these thing and can not get that small off my hands