Did a little beach fishing at Deception Pass with my trusty dog. After a few hours of casting, a nice fellow offered me a few drops of anchovy scent and informed me of the perils of dog scent on your lures. Now I don't split atoms at my day job, nor do I put them back together on my night job, but this came as a bit of a surprise to me.

Fished the last couple hours of the incoming tide with a 2.5" green/white buzz bomb...nada.

Might be a different story when them chum come a runnin

Bears, human's and dogs emit L-Serine (an amino acid?) through the skin which fish associate with predators. This is why its recommended that you wash your hands thoroughly before and during any fishing trip.....especially if you have a strong predatory instinct such as myself.

Well, now, I'm not sure that Iwould get too worried about it. I have a dog in my boat most days, but not always, and have never noticed a difference between the days when she's there and when she isn't. Besides, when's the last time your dog baited your hook?

But I do believe in the hand washing thing, big time.

Them fish are responding to the action of your lure...they aren't gonna sniff it. Don't worry about a little Fido scent.

Last July at Swiftsure one of the Canadian boats had a dog aboard that would start barking as soon as one of the rods started to jiggle. That dog was barking all day, didn't seem to affect their catching. I want one of those dogs!!!

I did a dog test today on the Skykomish, just to verify my prior assertion. I took two dogs, PredatorDawg and my four legged critter. PD (Steve) did his best to show me where the fish were, by crackering them wildly, then I did my best to show him what the net was for.

Score for the day, 3 steelhead to hand, 2 crackered, half a dozen whitefish, a couple of smolts, probably a dozen searuns risen, three or four to the boat, and a steelie coming to look at the cutthroat fly.

I'm calling this as proof that the dog smell doesn't matter, as we were petting Susie all day long.

And shaking the Dawg's hand didn't seem to scare the fish, either.

So, I wouldn't worry about fishing with your dog, from a catching standpoint. Please make sure that you know about salmon poisoning, however, for your dog's sake. Ask your vet if you don't know the details.

I have been fishing with a black lab and a blue healer as my main fishing partners for four years now and have not had a problem catching fish. best fishing partners I wil ever have.I think actualy I catch more fish with them than I ever did with a human partner.
\
Landing a big steelhead with a black lab barking at it is a problem though

a <*}}}}< is swimming along and comes up to your lure "HOLLY CRAP! I smell a DOG!!, I ain't conna bite that lure!"

#1, A fish don't know what a lure is!
#2, I'm pretty sure it hasn't seen a dog or was taught about one in school (A Fish school ) Har Har
So how would it know what a dog smelled like from a fart??
That nice fellow that offered you some anchovy scent, Did he offer you some of what he was SMOKING also??? I'd like some too!

Some people swear on using WD 40 on their lures, or sun tan oil. These are unnatural scents to salmon, but they seem to still catch fish? I think it all boils down to what makes you feel confident. Line, rod, type of snap swivel or how you wear your hat. Just get the lure in front of him and...BAMM!!!!
Remember..."He who cast the most, catches the most!"

Take your dog!

my black lab taught me a leson in the feathered flyers back yard a few years back.I had her sitting up in the brush as i was sneaking down the river bank using my poloroid glasses to determine if there were any fish in the gin clear river.After convincing myself that there were no fish in that run I signled the lab out of the bushes.As she bounded up the shore a half dozen steelhead cam out of hiding and swam into the deep headwaters of the pool.

my grandpa has fished all his life and he says spitting on your bait will take the sent away. dont no if it really does take the sent away. he got me in the habit of doin it, so now i always spit on my bait.

Silver Hilton---Thanks for the concern on the salmon posioning. I have heard a few stories that ended badly for the dog.