fish,fish oil or sweet lure?

[flyguy]

I've heard alot about using fish,fishoil,and sweet type lures for coon and where to use them.Like fish close to water and sweet lure more towards the woods.What do you folks think?
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[Bob Jameson]

If you are on the coon you will catch them on either type odor regardless of location.

[rk660]

what Bob said. Saw Matt Jones tell a guy that was asking about making coon bait "you cant fu&^up coon bait"

[trappnman]

So much of the coon advice, is based on a early to mid season coon. During that period, as stated, about anything works.

Some stuff better than others, and Im, sure some stuff works better in milder climes than here.

But that cold weather period, that period when coons shouldn't be out and about here in the north, bot so true. Most good coon baits, matts included, fail miserably in colder weather.

Both because little smell is released but also, because I really believe that hunger isn't a motivating factor that time of year. Bait works, but not as well as a good curiosity lure. Pure fox urine is a real good curiosity lure for example.

We've debated this before, and its not to put down baits, because I also use them.

For a couple of years, I was of the school that why trap coon separate when trapping coyotes, that since coon "come to anything", I'd get all the coon I was going to get whether
I set delibrately for them on the same grounds as the coyotes. I was wrong.

If you have a long coon season, or desire to try winter coon, mix a good antifreeze (if needed) and lure into your bait, and spread it out good- you want surface area.. You will take more coon.


My 2 cents.

[rk660]

Tman, this may be true, but most of the world is finished coon trapping when you start, and most guys coon trapping later in late Dec/Jan/feb arent even using much for bait/lure, they are snareing and conibearing coons in trails as they come across them here and there while beaver, coyote or cat trapping. And, I can still catch coons in a cage trap or coni boxs here and there where i want to, or handy, with a hunk of carp or prepared fish bait, although i find 1/2 a rabbit, or hunk of beaver meat better than fish this time of year. If he comes to a smell, weather a sweet lure like procoon or hardcore or any number of sweet coon lures, or comes to a hunk of fish or beaver meat or rat carcass, aint bottom line, they are still coming to smell that plays on hunger? i mean I doubt spearmint, anise, almond oil or any other of the multitude of sweet smells, STILL are a pretty much hunger oriented desire arent they? For the most part, I think a coon's nose is pretty much following his stomach in the end, whether its sweet or sour.

[trappnman]

I fully agree that few are using pocket sets during mid winter- and I also think thats why there is so much erronious information out there on coon.

Generally- most of the year- coon indeed are thinking of their stomachs. But I honestly believe, that this does not happen during the dark of winter, for lack of a better term.

Remember that until recently, coon were always holed up here during the winter. I think that like bears, when they are in that hibernation state (semi, of ocurse) that they shut down on food. Sure they wil lcome to bait, but I feel out of curiousity rather than hunger. So in effect, the bait triggers curiosity, not food. I don't think that a curiosity lure, is appealling to hunger at all (food). So the more "curiosity" you provide, the more apt those winter coon will follow it.

I think coon are drawn to water at this time, for water.

Many people have late coon seasons, and to maximise that catch with scent type sets, you have to think a little differently.

get into late Feb or thereabouts, and this reverts- and its easy to see when it reverts- because now coon are hunting- and you can't keep them out of any blind mink/rat set. They are in the hidey holes, under the banks, etc- looking for food.

If you don't get cold weather or don't trap then, then you can trap them with the one mindset, that coon are always thinking food. But I have found that curioisty lures, will give you more coon during mid winter. That they will pass up a baited set simply because it doesn't have enough "curiosity" in it.

Baits will indeed work as well during the rest of the year.

[briankroberts]

A good sunrendered fish oil is all you could ever want, I'm not talking about that crap or the various kinds if processed fish oils that most dealers offer, or use to make there bait solution.
Good sunrendered fish oil is hard to find, Juice you can get all day!!
I have found a source for good sunrendered oil and pay well for it, but 1 thing for sure I know what it is, ain't No crap here.
By the way it takes 55 gallons of rough fish to make 5 gallons of good clear oil.
I'm not talking about the oil most guys offer, or mix into there bait solution .
I'm talking about good sunrendered oil.
Anybody that makes good oil will know what I talking about.....B....

[rk660]

Ive found synthetic shellfish essence oil to be far superiour to any natural fish oil, whether pressed, sun rendered, juice or oil Ive ever used. I even made a bunch of clam oil one year that I thought would be the stuff, and promptly went back to shellfish......Ive heard and tryed them all, high dollar sun rendered trout oil, salmon oil or whatever, I went to shellfish over 25 years ago, and come back to it time and time again.

this kinda same deal as talked about on some lure ingrediants, as per many lure makers finding the good quality synthetic products to be much more consistant, easyer access to, and many time superiour to their natural counterparts

[bankrunner]

Rich and Steve, when are you guys going to come out with the books? Maybe co-authors?

[johnthomas]

butttttttt, how do ya keep that shellfish oil putting out odor away from water??? with no rain for several days or just dry cold it gives me fits the two times i tried it, had to slop more on every day and i could smell almostnothing the next day, coon were going by it, then we had a damp moring, i could smell it 10 feet away as id relured for a week with no effect, now i did have possums, skunks, coons, and a couple very wild miles away from any farm feral tomcats that morning, but it took a week and 2 pints of the stuff to get me to the damp morning, is there some way to keep it wet and putting out odor???

[johnthomas]

lol, as far as a book goes i tried to talk rich into before he started selling nelson bait, no way did i get anywhere with him, i thought he should make one that covered dryland as well as water, he blunted that one to lol, he must know something i dont bout coon vids lol.

[stickbowhntr]

there you go rich another iron into the fire, like you don;t have enough going on now...but IT IS A GREAT IDEA !

[rk660]

Im behind on signing checks on payments due, let alone try to write a book, BW is the one you need to talk into becoming an author, he has more good stories than most 5 people put together.

[Schrader]

While we're talking about oils, how does shellfish oil compare to fish oil? The fish oil that Ive used doesnt really smell all that fishy. Any comments?

[Bob Jameson]

shellfish essence is a synthetic man made product that is mixed with certain oils to make what is now know as shellfish oil. It by no means compares to mild fish oil. Some use shellfish essence to spike fish oil or some use it mixed with an inert oil that serves as a carrier of the shellfish essence.

Shellfish essence thrives best in certain bases and at times needs boosting to hold its push in cold temps. Some essential oil or fragranced products are not well built at times and pricing may reflect this. Consequently some products may lack adequate ingredients to hold the odor which can be minimized greatly at times with very cold temps. If you are wishing to boost your fish oil then purchasing the raw shellfish uncut material essence will do the better job.