cooked in or in the bag?

[ctom]

I know this has been brought up in other forums, maybe here too but I can't remember it. When doing scent with soft plastics, do you cook it in or are you of the add it to the bag family? Personally, I add it to the bag. I've tried cooking it in but was always put off by the smell it created. And honestly, baits in a bag soaked with any scent I feel take the scent on by osmosis to some degree and the scent will last just as long as one that has been cooked in. How many here actually cook the scent in and of those who do, do you feel that the cooking process has no effect on smell or baits?

Probably 75% of my personal crappie baits are given a liberal drink of the Gulp Minnow sauce from the spray bottle in the bags and I see a significant difference in hook up production over just plain, un-scented baits. I long ago stopped buying into the idea that a soft plastic, being a petroleum product, could not take on an organic based scent, of which Gulp is to a degree. I still carry un-scented baits in the same colors and profiles as the scented ones and will find once in a while where the fish are not fussy either way, but mostly the fish appear to prefer those with the Gulp. I also carry the same in a bag with Anise scent, which is used about 1/3 as much as the Gulp but more than the totally un-scented.

[olsarge]

I have used both methods and just prefer to add it to the baits when I bag them.  I have a couple of tubs of crappie baits that soak in gulp juice, and a few other scents that I use as well.  I use scent more as a covering agent than any miracle cure-but I have never known it to be a detriment.  When I added scent directly to raw plastic I would often wind up losing track of the puck and which ones were scented vs non-scented.

[Lines]

I tried cooking it in, but felt that I lost 90% of the scent. Been adding to the bag since 2005. Much better results.

[basscatlildave]

I add it to the bag while its curing.

[Apdriver]

Scent them when I bag them. Easy Peasy. I do try to use oil based scents as I’ve had some of the others go rancid.

[Les Young]

A little shot of berkley gulp shrimp & a little  spray of bang crawfish scent in the plastic nibbles that i make & the crappie like them. I put them straight in the jar when demolding & add the scent & it works good.

[Fishermanbt]

I did not care for the cooking in scent so I went to add it to the bag. While crappie/perch fishing this past fall and winter I found that a Power Bait crappie nibble in chartreuse added on the hook out fished no scent, bagged scent, and even baits with Procure crappie formula.

[brennan.chapman]

In the bag but then again, I don't know what a fish's nose, knows.

See what I did there. 

[Les Young]

I did not care for the cooking in scent so I went to add it to the bag. While crappie/perch fishing this past fall and winter I found that a Power Bait crappie nibble in chartreuse added on the hook out fished no scent, bagged scent, and even baits with Procure crappie formula.

I'm a firm believer in the chartreuse power bait crappie nibbles but my buddy & me have tested mine pretty hard against them & they work just as good & if you don't break off one will last all day. I know they smell them in dirty water &  only make them in chartreuse or hot pink since i think a big part of the nibbles bite in clear water is a visual thing personally.

[Lamar]

 Just about all I use now is Bang spray in the garlic. It’s the only spray that I can still smell 15 minutes later and the guy 30 yards down the bank can smell it too. Adding it in the bag lasts about two cast and seems to be gone.

[Les Young]

Just about all I use now is Bang spray in the garlic. It’s the only spray that I can still smell 15 minutes later and the guy 30 yards down the bank can smell it too. Adding it in the bag lasts about two cast and seems to be gone.

You can smell my nibbles for a long time but like i said i use power bait shrimp scent in them too.

[ctom]

Years ago I tried the nibbles but lost interest in using them in a hurry. I have a friend that will stuff one of the nibbles inside a crappie tube and has some limited luck that way. I asked the question because after talking with a few bass, crappie and walleye guys I got mixed reviews, about like what we see here.

The Gulp trick has been my mainstay for about 5 years now and I have no plans to change that. The Anise scent added to baits in a bag doesn't appear to bother crappies and of course the plain jane right out of the mold baits catch fish well too. Just for curiosity's sake I am going to do up a bag of baits using the Hands Down Grape scent to see if crappies react either way using it. I use the grape on my bass baits, primarily the Quakin Shads fished on weighted hooks, and there's no issue in that department. Now on to crappies.

I know that I have brought Cod Liver Oil up as a scent before here and that stuff just flat out works but I don't like the mess surrounding it. I do still carry a dropper bottle of it though. Cod Liver Oil is an organic oil pressed from cod livers and is easily emulsifiable with water, meaning the scent receptors that crappies use to detect smells can easily pick up the smell of the oil. The downside is that drips and smears of the oil gel and dry on boat surfaces and are hard to get off and any towel or rag used to keep things cleaned off will smell like a dead fish if the sun is out and hot.

There are a ton of scent options on the market today and I'm sure many work and probably as many are gimmick. I 've been curious though about others deliver the scents: cooked in or added to the sack. Thanks for the replies guys!