Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Olfactory Warning Signs

A bit of back ground.....

For many years, I've stocked channel cats in my main pond, in very light quantities. Maybe 30-50 CC in a 5+ acre pond, over a few years time. In about a decade, I've only personally seen one CC caught at my main pond, and a picture of a second CC caught by a friend when I wasn't present.

Now, in a 1/4 acre neighborhood pond, I stocked (10) CC, and this was about three years back.

We don't see them much during the day, but they do come out in the late evening when I'm feeding pellets.

Now here's the thing....I believe I can smell them just before they show up. It's a distinct 'musty water' type of smell, and it only lasts for 10 seconds or so.

Anyone else experience this?

There are those that say they can smell bluegills on the beds so it's a possibility.

"Late evening" leads me to believe that the olfactory is being influenced by the odor of stale beer wafting from the empty bottles surrounding the person doing the feeding.

Just before the feeder goes off I can often smell the BG congregating. Musty though not unpleasant smell, a bit like dill pickles.

Wonder if otter and mink can smell that odor too...

When we do river fishing for catfish we smell for a distinct odor that usually lets us know there are fish there. Now whether that is a catfish smell or a baitfish smell I could not tell you.

Dwight nailed it.

Dwight certainly has a good point, but none the less, the odor is still there!

Totally agree with locating spawning areas by nose

Have smelled BG when on the beds many , many times. Not always an odor but often.

And, pray tell, what is the description of that odor that indicates BG on the beds? Does it require a certain number of active BG on beds to create enough odor to be detectable? This is fascinating!

A musty oder. Numbers are a good question but I have smelled BG colonies of 20 -25 nests.

This is a good article that suggests that you can 'smell them out' as they smell like ripe watermelon?

"...pick the bluegill beds like you would pick cotton"

another good article that describes the smell as: "The best way to describe it is in food terms, I think. Sweet and sour, possibly a good Molé sauce or chocolate covered grilled jalapenos. Spawning fish have a strange sweet musty smell like flowers and damp earth."

sucker spawn smell

I think you have a resident Swamp Ape scoping you out from the tree line, but then again that's my answer for nearly everything I don't understand.

February 20th for us Eric. My wife and I went out to fish, and we immediately noticed the smell. Multiple gravid females were caught in less than 18" of water. They hadn't spawned yet, but they were sure wanting to.

Sunil, sorry I'm no help here. Most of my CC experience includes corn meal, and very hot grease. I know that CC smell very well.

Quick CC cooking tip. If you spit in the grease, and it spits back, it's hot enough.

For years, if I'm in the middle of, or near a concentration of game fish, I can smell them. I cannot tell speckled sea trout (salt water) from BG, LMB, or Catfish...they all smell the same to me......like fish. If I can smell them, I'm sure every critter in SE Texas can smell them too...not a real comforting feeling.

Also, when my fish come up to feed, I can smell them...

Yep. Same here!

I only smell something when Mr. Whiskers comes a callin'.

Being a Fish-Head may include advanced olfactory talents.

I can smell a dead carp rotting on the shore from a great distance. There are also those little white ice fishing baits on and nearby it.

On second thought, that happens with cormorants too.

We may be on to something!

I like these types of threads, as they remind me that not everyone grew up with a pond in the backyard. Some may be relative newcomers to the pond owner lifestyle, and are experiencing things I have unfortunately taken for granted. As a kid growing up, we would fish spawning areas every spring, letting our noses lead us to the approximate location, and zeroing in on the tell-tale oil slick floating on the surface as the place to cast. Even on water that was new to us, we never had any trouble finding the fish.

I enjoy reading about the excitement when such discoveries are made, as to me that embodies all that is great about owning your own water. I think I'll take a moment later this spring and try to recapture a little of that amazement, myself.

Anybody ever see their fish pass gas at feeding time? I've seen an iridescent film come up from fish when they are feeding on pellets. Mostly when I had largemouth bass.

Cecil this is a well known phenomena. First documented I believe by Itwasntme in 1957 with further studies done by Itwasthedog in 1963. Latest study I can find was Pullmyfinger in 1978.

Edit: I looked everywhere but can't find the study you refer to by Thefishdidit in 2016.

LOL!

I coined a phrase when I first got married called the "mystery fart." When my wife asked me if I did it, I responded with, "I have no recollection of that. Must be a mystery fart."

Being one of the more senior-aged members here with nearly 7 decades of fishing experience, I've experienced this many times. I have experienced it mostly in lakes/ponds and calm saltwater inlets with schooling fish. It is distinctive.


When I was in high school we joked about being able to find big bluegill in the spring, especially during spawning season.

With lots of channel cats in my ponds, I too experience it when feeding. Actually, during the early and late feeding seasons, I can predict if the fish are still feeding on pellets.

Years ago I thought it was the food. Over the years I've since discovered that it doesn't seem to be the food. I "chum" for channel cats with small pieces of cut bait made from shrimp, squid, mullet, bluegill, creek chubs, etc. I feel pretty confident that I can tell when the fish are in the area.

Now, here is where I start to go off the tracks with this.

To me, it is a lot like "divining". I don't believe in it, but I can do it very successfully for certain underground things. I can very accurately find an electrical line, water/sewer pipe, septic tank, etc., with my #4 L-shaped wire copper rods. The "hand" portion is about 4-inches. The sensing portion is about 20 inches. I've so distrusted it that I've wandered around blindfolded. Again, I still don't believe in it, yet the results were very definitive for finding electric lines, plumbing lines, etc.

(Sorry TJ -- still no Sasquatches found.)

As for fish smells -- yes I believe in them. I've never attempted to determine what was causing the smell. But, there is a definite odor that goes with active schooling fish.

I don't think I could ever associate this with a single fish, like a northern pike, walleye, sturgeon, etc. But, for schooling fish it sure seems real to my nostrils and my broken brain.

I only ever put (10) CC in the neighborhood pond.

I've seen up to what I think are 4-5 CC in the 6+ lb. range at one time.

So, in my case, it's not a large number of fish that can even 'cause' the smell.

Before I ever even catch a wiff, ther BG, LMB, SMB, HSB, and Shiners have already been feeding for a while.