WD-40 as a fishing aid?
 

I heard some guy the other night talking about how he uses WD-40 as a fishing aid. Specifically, he sprays it on the bait or the lure and it attracts the fish like nobody's business.

Can anyone confirm this?

I know raw bacon works well becuse it's grasy and the oils it puts off or something. Perhaps this is along the same lines.

i've heard this since i was a little boy. i know some fisherman that swear by it but others [like myself] don't think helps much. from what i understandwhen you spray it on your lure and put it in the water it look more "fishie". if you ever have scene a shad underwater you can see what i'm talking about. they have a chrome reflector look to them. but hey if it gives you confidence in your fishing i say have at it.

Just out of curiosity, if fish eat the bait with WD-40, and you eat the fish, aren't you eating WD-40?

I would assume so, and isn't WD-40 petroleum based?
I just don't happen to have a can of it lying around that I can check at the moment.

This was several years ago. I have a friend (really it wasn't me) that swore by using WD-40 until he was cited by the Colorado Fish and Game Dept. for polluting with hazardous petroleum products. He didnt' tell me what the monitary fine was, but it was substantial and he can no longer hold a license issued by the CFW. this also includes hunting, fishing and trapping, also had to do 2 yrs of community service. IMO he should have been reprimanded but I think he was made an example of and the punishmnet was a bit severe.

If it's just the iridescence the fish like, why not spray it with a cooking oil?
Surely that isn't illegal.

When I used to fish as a child, everyone in my family would use WD-40. Always seemed to work, for whatever reason.

I've always heard it took away the "Human" smell to fish.

Why not use something that leaves no resedue and evaporates completely ( like brake cleaner) if its to get rid of the human smell?

And if it does work to put on a lure, what would happen if you sprayed your bait with it? What if it was live bait? (fish or something, not worms)

I don't know about WD-40 but we used Right Guard on all our lures a few years ago done on Lake Cumberland in Kentucky. We limited out every day on stripers by about 11AM

I dont think you are eating the WD-40 if you eat the fish you caught with WD-40, since ..
a) the fish is dead, therefore it couldnt have digested the WD-40
b) (hopefully) you dont eat the stomach or intestines.
c) most of the time the fish doesnt actually eat the bait

Yes I've used bacon grease to lube up (quiet you horny people)
my bait and lures.

yup
 

the legend is that WD-40 is mostly (synthetic) vanilla oil. Anyway fish like the smell of it better than the smell of people. What the hell, when you're the only one not pulling them in, anything is worth a try. Most fishermen have one of those teeny spray cans in their tackle box, and it ain't just to keep the reel shiny.

I was fishing for Kokanee (land locked salmon) on a lake in Montana a few years back. Every evening when we'd pull back into the dock, these grizzled old locals would be unloading their limit (seemed like 20 per person) of large salmon. They would show me their takle, lures, bait etc. and how to rig up and how to fish the rigs, but we never touched a fish. Then the last day, as I was leaving, I saw one of the old guys by the dock, and he hollerd out to me to ask how I'd done. I told him that we had not seen a single fish. He winked at me and said, "I bet no one told you we have all been using WD-40 did they?"

Sometimes it seems to me that I get a bite right after handling the lure after applying bug repelent. (also an oily smelly substance) Must be something to this. I will have to try some WD40 (on the sly) some day. Mostly I backpack to my fishing holes however, so no way am I carrying a big can of WD-40 all the way on my back.

LoL!!! That seems so funny to me! Why on earth would a fish have reason (or be capable) of fearing man? I can see this in higher mammals like deer and bear - but FISH? What possible exposure could fish have to man that would allow them to "learn" to be fearful of humans? Fishing??? Do you really think that fish that are caught and released go back and "teach" their offspring to be fearful of what happened to them?

They probably don't recognize the smell as something they would eat, so they stay away.

I'm not a big fan of putting industrial chemicals in rivers and lakes. Anybody ever read the warnings on the back of the can? I haven't.