Your source may be on to something, as I certainly can't think of any better explanation for why fish might be attracted to anise. But who knows? Maybe some guy who was out of bait one day looked at the stick of licorice he was snacking on, decided to give it a go, and inadvertently started a fishing sensation. After all, dumb luck and hunches are probably how most effective lures were discovered.

To answer your other question, I applied anise to a couple of lures last fall, and I hooked both hatchery (1) and wild (2) coho on them, which would suggest they both either liked the scent or simply liked the lures and weren't offended by the scent.

For what it's worth (probably not much, coming from someone who doesn't use a lot of scents), I have always thought that the reason non-baity scents like garlic and anise work is more due to their particular effectiveness in masking scents that fish don't associate with food (human smells, for example) than their likeness to anything fish eat on a regular basis.