Hello,
I was wondering about the scent of sunscreen on hard baits and other lures. I think most of us wake up in the morning and slather on the sunscreen. Does the scent of sunscreen on your hands have an effect on the bite? Do fish smell that and think, "Oh no, human smell, this never works out well" and pass up on a perfectly presented bait?

Is there a type or flavor of sunscreen that is better than others? Or conversely, is there a type that seems to repel fish?

Thanks.

I have no science and evidence to prove my thinking but I believe this highly impacts fishing. Even more so with live bait but I think if you have sunscreen on your hands and handle your lure and the line, that chemically smell will leave an impact that I believe impacts fishing. I always "wash my hands" with dirt, grass, moss, mud, etc in between putting on sunscreen and handling fishing stuff.

Could be me overthinking it but it makes sense to me and is not a hassle at all to do.

I just wash my hands

A Pike or Musky swims fast and will inhale your lure. It has zero time to smell or taste before it gets hooked. I troll for walleye in Canada and it’s the same thing, the walleye are chasing and slam my minnow rig and get hooked. Top water bass fishing is the same explosive hits, then they are hooked. I can’t see fish having much time to make a smell decision.

I suppose if you are bobber fishing and you just applied sunscreen and started fishing it might affect it. Or if you didn’t see your bobber go down giving the fish time to taste and feel the bait. I never wait to let the fish decide if it is food or not. Bobber goes down I set the hook fast. Most times it works, especially when I’m using a worm rig with a second hook if they light bite it.

I would be more concerned with the chemicals of sunscreen and especially bug spray getting on my monofilament line and melting it. I don’t spray bug spray or sunscreen on my hands for this reason. I also have no science to prove this, only a long time on the water and a lot of limits and released fish.

If you are worried about this affecting your fishing, just use the spray sunscreen or bug spray and keep it away from your hands.

i disagree fish have no time to smell many fish especially musky's will follow for awhile before or ever striking. i just try and keep my hands as free as possible from foreign stuff like sunscreen-filling the tank on the way to the lake, etc...

A lot of anglers these days get their sun protection via clothing. Lightweight, quick dry, breathable long-sleeve shirts with hoods, gloves and a face masks. It's all SPF 50+, environment friendly and you don't have to reapply it every few hours. I've started going this route as I hate having greasy sunscreen all over my face and hands.

I don’t have any data about how this would affect your success, but I’ll never forget the #1 rule of our guide on Winnie. He said the fastest way to end our outing is to put your hand in his bait container.

Fritty

Heyfritty: "I don’t have any data about how this would affect your success, but I’ll never forget the #1 rule of our guide on Winnie. He said the fastest way to end our outing is to put your hand in his bait container.


Fritty "

+1 with my experience fishing for years with a guide on Rainy Lake

I use to wash my hands after applying sunscreen and even using some sand to help get rid of it. It seems like as I aged I have been less worried about it and the fish haven't seem to care. Now I apply sunscreen and go fish. Most of my fishing is for walleyes with a jig and a leech or lake trout with a jig and minnow.

I swear it hurts my fishing…even if I wash my hands well…but what are ya gonna do? Getting really badly sunburned also ruins my fishing…and for much longer.

I put my sunscreen on first thin in the AM and wash up, hopefully some of dissipates as the day goes on. I might be superstitious too…but I swear I see a difference.

T