Which Procure do you use?

[imaoldmanyoungsalt]

I've been seeing a lot of guys mention using Procure on here. I've never used it but I have used several different attractants in the past in freshwater, usually something containing shad oil, with very good results. I am intrigued with the idea of using something in saltwater so I went to Procures website and they have a zillion different varieties and flavors. Which ones do you guys use and do you like the gels? Or does anyone have a different brand they recommend?

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[Ron Mc]

I have both Shrimp and Inshore, they also make one from Menhaden. If you only buy one, probably the Inshore.
When I take friends out, always hand them a bottle.
It works. If nothing else, it takes the smell of us from the plastic. You don't need a lot, and a 2-oz bottle will last you quite awhile.
It's something I learned from a guide on SP 40 years ago, throwing cocahoe minnows. Then it wasn't procure, but a same idea in a different brand. Nice thing about procure gel, it's viscous and tenacious.
On TSL grasswalker, I make sure to coat the hook and squeeze a drop in the hook slot, which squeezes back into the fish's mouth, probably making the lure seem even more alive.

[kickingback]

^+2 Shrimp and Inshore. Works great saltwater.

[TroutSupport.com]

I've gone back and forth with the scents. I'd say if it helps your confidence use them... any of them. But I honestly haven't seen a huge increase over not using anything. There is supposedly an article by the Berkley gulp scientist that said the scents have to be water soluble for fish to 'smell' them; Makes sense.

I've caught so many fish with no scent at all on soft plastic which primarily has an oil based residue, and most added scents are oil based as well. I just haven't seen an improvement over just straight up plastic. Gulp juice on the other hand is water soluble, so I may try dipping baits in that to see if there is some increase. For me it would just be hold time anyway as I hit them pretty quick with a hookset. Maybe I'm just to fast for them, faster than their taste buds

[imaoldmanyoungsalt]

Tobin, interesting you mentioned the gulp juice. I have some jars of juice from some gulp shrimp that are empty of shrimp but still have juice. Been considering soaking some plastics in it. Might be worth a try. Not sure if soaking would help anymore than just dipping when ready to fish tho, since plastic probably wouldn't absorb any of it. Also interesting about having to be water soluble for them to smell it. I wonder if that applies to tasting as well since fish have taste buds on the outside of their bodies as well as in their mouth. If so, it would discount anything containing oil as having any credibility as far as making them "hang on" longer. Now I'm wondering if my past experience with shad oil type attractants was just "in my head", or simply, "adding confidence" as you said. I certainly feel as tho they always improved my strike ratio vs not using them but I've also certainly caught a ton of fish without them. They were never a deal breaker one way or the other. I may have to research this a little deeper now.

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[Drifting Yak]

Bought several kinds of Procure but never really used them. Then one afternoon a bud and I were fishing an area on an incoming tide and he was catching some nice specs. We were yak fishing side by side and throwing plastics and the problem was that he was catching and I wasn't. After his 3rd spec I asked what he was throwing and if I could have one (I used to be too hard headed to even ask - let alone switch - but have learned to put my pride on the shelf and ask!). He handed me a scented ZMan Jerk ShadZ's and bam - game on! Anywho I did some research and found that ZMan uses Procure Mullet flavor. Went out and bought some and here's my observation. The Mullet scent seems to work - especially when the bite slows. Observed that when I'd get only bumps, and no real takers, I'd add Procure and it would help the fish commit. The fish would take the bait a little harder or longer. Been experimenting with this for about a year now and making notes in my fishing log. Needles to say but I now carry the Mullet scent with me. Have also tried the Inshore scent and it acts the same way.

[Ron Mc]

I could tell the difference last November dock fishing Arroyo at night.
Especially specs - think how specs use their canines to bite and injure their prey several times before they eat it.
They're used to tasting their meal before they eat it.
Throwing blue wildeye shad and bone glow grasswalkers off the dock into schoolie fish sign, they would always come back for the eat on a freshly-treated lure, and might not come back as the coating was washing off.
I don't understand people not using it when there's a jar in front of them.
My BIL didn't use it and I beat him 5 to 1 for 5 days.


People fish the surf using Gulp lures as cut bait and reports on corpusfishing, they were pounding pompano that way in December.
If procure was some kind of snake oil, I would question it - but it's made out of bait renderings - it contains the actual oils of the actual bait.
Your fingers have their own kind of oil mixed with DEET and sunscreen (cigars and beer).

[TroutSupport.com]

I've done my own side by sides and I haven't seen any difference with any scent on plastic or not. In the world of artificial lure fishing, fish barely have time to react to engulf it let alone smell a lure, we're not deadsticking like in freshwater ( TRD or ned rigs). Yes trout and reds have unbelievable ability and the nerve cells to smell, but I haven't found the scent other than the gulp to show any improvement side by side. Gulp on the other hand I have seen work, same with fishbites which I assume is a similar formula the way people copy everything these days.

The fish we are fishing for are ambush predators, not sniffers like catchfish. They don't sniff the bait to check it.. they react to movement and the advantage of striking from being under it mostly.

I'll continue to test, but I haven't seen anything yet.

[Ron Mc]

A big sow trout sitting in a sand hole is a perched ambush feeder, just like a flounder would be on the same perch - it's a very efficient way to feed - few calories were expended gulping this meal.
Schoolies (all males) traveling their 25 daily miles to find bait are a different story.
Everybody on this forum had their live shrimp bit in half by a spec, and knew it was a spec strike.
When you find that multiple fish sign out on the featureless flats, jetty, surf, Arroyo docks, their behavior is driven by competition. If one fish bites your lure and turns away from it, they all do.

If you've ever seen the fresh aftermath of blackwater in the surf, there is literally half-a-million pieces of mullet washing onto the beach.

[TroutSupport.com]

Like I said, if you feel like it gives you confidence.. then use it.

[IrishSharker]

I haven’t seen a huge difference either on trout. Reds and founder I have. I honestly rather keep my chartreuse tails on my bait as long as possible from the piggy’s down south the procure just makes it a piggy smash and grab!

[Ron Mc]

Like I said, if you feel like it gives you confidence.. then use it.

that's not true Tobin - you should know me better than that - want to borrow some confidence? - have it to spare.

[TroutSupport.com]

LOL.... Ron, You crack me up Man. Good Bull right there.

[Chubs]

Just a note about oil vs water based - we know that the procure comes off in the water because you have to reapply it every so often. In doubt? Sniff your lure when you 1st put on the scent, then sniff it again a few casts later; it will be fainter until it eventually wears off and you need to reply.

If it wasn't dispersing into the water then you would never lose the scent.

I think what the scent can do is leave a trail for a fish to pick up if they swim by after you start retrieving. That's obviously not the only thing that would make them bite, but who knows, maybe it helps and gives a tiny edge, or makes the fish commit more?
And also obviously, you don't need scent for a fish to strike or find the lure. It's not the end of a fishing trip if you forget the scent back at the house.

[imaoldmanyoungsalt]

Just a note about oil vs water based - we know that the procure comes off in the water because you have to reapply it every so often. In doubt? Sniff your lure when you 1st put on the scent, then sniff it again a few casts later; it will be fainter until it eventually wears off and you need to reply.

If it wasn't dispersing into the water then you would never lose the scent.

I think what the scent can do is leave a trail for a fish to pick up if they swim by after you start retrieving. That's obviously not the only thing that would make them bite, but who knows, maybe it helps and gives a tiny edge, or makes the fish commit more?
And also obviously, you don't need scent for a fish to strike or find the lure. It's not the end of a fishing trip if you forget the scent back at the house.

There's a difference between dispersing into the water,(washing off) and actually dissolving into it, (soluble). You know the old "water and oil don't mix" saying. I think what Tobin is saying is that it actually has to dissolve into the water for a fish to smell it due the way their olfactory senses work (if that's the right way to say that). I'm not saying that I'm on board with it yet but I could see where there may be some merit to that.

[Ron Mc]

The problem with the stuff made 40 years ago it was about the same viscosity as water and was gone on a cast or two.
Needing to use it often also made it cost more.
The nice thing about procure, you don't need a lot, and it lasts a long time.
Another way to look at it chemically, is steel and lead have a taste, and being able to coat those two materials is bound to help on the fish rejection factor.

[imaoldmanyoungsalt]

The problem with the stuff made 40 years ago it was about the same viscosity as water and was gone on a cast or two.
Needing to use it often also made it cost more.
The nice thing about procure, you don't need a lot, and it lasts a long time.
Another way to look at it chemically, is steel and lead have a taste, and being able to coat those two materials is bound to help on the fish rejection factor.

This has always been the main reason I have used attractants. More to get a fish that has already taken the bait to hold on longer and make them believe its real rather than to actually attract them to the bait. I guess calling it an attractant is the wrong description. I believe they can taste them once contact is made. It's the smelling them without contact that is in question.

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[Ron Mc]

exactly, it's not the smell, it's the taste - first thing a fish does - their tongue is right there in the bottom of their mouth

Guess I should have said in my first post, to remove the taste of us from the plastic, but smell and taste are really synonymous.

[Chubs]

There's a difference between dispersing into the water,(washing off) and actually dissolving into it, (soluble). You know the old "water and oil don't mix" saying. I think what Tobin is saying is that it actually has to dissolve into the water for a fish to smell it due the way their olfactory senses work (if that's the right way to say that). I'm not saying that I'm on board with it yet but I could see where there may be some merit to that.

I do still believe it will leave a trail. It's not going to disperse out into a big cloud like something water soluble, but it will disperse a little, and will at least leave a trail back to the bait; but that trail will be a small and narrow beam - it could give a very slight edge I think. Probably only slightly more significant that just the fish seeing/ sensing the lure through the lateral line.

Maybe you get a few more bites in a fishing trip. And like yall are saying, I'm sure the taste lets the hold on a little longer. I only really bother with it when I've not had any bites after an hour at different places. That and in muddy water.

This is interesting to ponder though. I've go some other brand of scent that washes off very fast, like in 2,3 casts. I thought this stuff is worthless - but now actually I'm thinking it's better at dispersing. hehe.

[karstopo]

My buddy uses it. I’m not sure which flavor. Next time we get out on the boat I’ll try to see. He usually breaks it out when the catching is slow and slathers it on his soft plastics and then forgets to put it on if the fish are really biting. I see him using it to break the ice. Or he will use a spoon and catch fish right and left, no procure involved.

I haven’t used it, but I tend to believe my furry flies fish better once a fish has added a layer of slime and bit of blood to it. One reason I like deer hair is that it’s very porous and able to soak up a good amount of fishy funk. Can’t but help to get another to bite it.

[Ron Mc]

Guess there's some truth to dispersion also. Beach Cliff became the standard fishing lunch back in the 90s. Stake the boat in The Bottleneck between Fence and Allyn's lakes, throw out some cut bait, and pour the oil from the Beach Cliff onto the water. More times than not, would get a red with lunch.
When you see a trout slick, it's the oil from the bait they're chomping floating to the surface.

[imaoldmanyoungsalt]

Guess there's some truth to dispersion also. Beach Cliff became the standard fishing lunch back in the 90s. Stake the boat in The Bottleneck between Fence and Allyn's lakes, throw out some cut bait, and pour the oil from the Beach Cliff onto the water. More times than not, would get a red with lunch.
When you see a trout slick, it's the oil from the bait they're chomping floating to the surface.

After reading up a little on it, it seems most, if not all, fish have taste buds on the outside of their bodies as well as in their mouths so I guess if they are swimming thru oils they are tasting it even if they're not "smelling" it.

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[imaoldmanyoungsalt]

I'm going to go with the "if I think they work, they work" attitude and use them when I feel they might give me an advantage...even of it's only in my own mind
Thanks for all the feedback guys

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[Ron Mc]

with the LA Hot Sauce, maybe they want to end up in Paul Prudhomme's kitchen

here's my guide buddy in AK handling king salmon roe for catching king salmon - no finger oil allowed (lotsa DEET used here)
He also makes his proprietary bait paste (as do all guides) to stick the roe together

[JW FunGuy]

You really know how to hurt a guy Ron!
I haven’t used any but the guy I usually fish with does, I think he uses the Mikes stuff. He says it makes a difference on flies we tie because we handle them so much and who knows about the materials. I think I am going to start because I have to say when things are slow he usually does pick up a few more than I do.
So I take it from this post that y’all think Procure is the best?