Pure aniseed oil..good for attracting fish YES/NO

[finga64]

Gidday all,
I've noticed SP's can have some stuff put on them to 'attract' fish. One lot says aniseed flavour.
Can you use pure aniseed oil or is it a mixed grill of stuff??
I'm asking this because the cook can get pure aniseed oil pretty cheap compared to the little bottles of attractant.
What other oils are good (other then tuna oil)??
Cheers Scott

[2iar]

I'd be tempted to give it a burl mate. That "Fisho" bait from servo's and the like sometimes works a charm on bream and sweetlip. Considering they would never naturally encounter either chook-gut or aniseed it's amazing that it works at all.

I'd also be giving it a try in the berley mix.

Let us know how you go, it would be interesting to hear...

Good luck,
Mike

[fishingnottake]

it works wonders on the bread and butter fish like bream/whiting and the occasional trevor, just buy the aniseed form the supermarket for 90 cents a bottle.

[Huggy_B]

or granulated aniseed, it tends to stay around longer in my experience

[finga64]

this stuff is pure essential oil and is about $45/kilo which is about a litre. Fair bit cheaper then the bait shop stuff.
The stuff from the super market is imitation stuff and doesn't seem to stay around for long.
I'll just have to give it a try I suppose.
Mmmm fresh prawns and aniseed for tea if I don't catch anything

[onerabbit]

I was under the impression that it is illeagal to use aniseed as a fish attractant, at least in fresh water????

Maybe it does work????

Can anyone give an "informed" answer to that???

Muzz

[flickflack]

Mate Aniseed oil is deadly , I just mixed it with an oil like Johnsons baby oil so that it is not too strong. I then let a few plakkies lie in the mix in a bag .

Works a treat on salt and freshwater species.

Rod

[rando]

You can get a little bottle (20 ml approx) from the chemist, in the essential oils shelf.
You dont need much as it is really pungent. A single drop will treat a heap of bait/ lures , my little bottle has lasted months.
Hard to say how well it works,
rando

[2iar]

this stuff is pure essential oil and is about $45/kilo which is about a litre. Fair bit cheaper then the bait shop stuff.
The stuff from the super market is imitation stuff and doesn't seem to stay around for long.
I'll just have to give it a try I suppose.
Mmmm fresh prawns and aniseed for tea if I don't catch anything

Hope you have a bit pf luck!

Your Mrs wouldn't happen to be able to get similar pure Citronella Oil would she? I've been looking for somewhere local to get it at the right price (I use it in an insect repellant brew), but the nearest place was Byron, which had a prohibitively high postage cost...

Good luck,
Mike

[Gorilla_in_Manila]

Scott,

Whiting, bream, dart and flathead certainly don't dislike aniseed. Have used it on pipis and worms and they have all wolfed it down.
Having said that, I can't actually say that it will catch more fish. Anytime I have used it, mates fishing with me seem to have done just as well without it.

What I think is the main benifit, is to mask any other foreign smells that you may have on your hands like suncreen or motor grease. I guess it is mainly added to SP's to hide any strange non-fishy smell that the rubber may have leaking from it.
It may help attract fish from further away if they're spread a bit thin. I reckon the old man might have given himself a bit of help when he landed a 40cm bream off the beach between Sandon and Minnie Waters a couple of years back, when I was fishing beside him and got stuff all. But he wouldn't admit to it later.
The cheap stuff from the baking section of the supermarket is certainly pretty damn potent to my nose; I wouldn't want to get near anything more potent. Just a couple of drops in the bait bucket on only the bait you are about to use is all that is needed. Don't leave any bait soaking in it, coz it turnes a slimy white and will of course kill your fresh pipis or worms and they will soon turn into a rotten, gooey, slimy mess that I'm sure no fish in its right mind would be interested in.

Muzz,
I heard from the old man that it was once illegal to use it as well. Whether that is just an old tale, or whether it was true in the past, I don't know. I only tried it myself coz I saw it was an ingredient in some of the attractants and a flavour for SP's, so was curious as to whether it helped. I was also curious to see if fish would actually eat something that seemed so unnatural to their environment. Before trying it, I looked through all info I could find on NSW fishing rules and couldn't find it banned anywhere.
I guess if the commercially available attractants are allowed to be sold, it must be legal.

I don't often bother with it anymore coz from what I've seen, fresh bait catches as many or more fish anyway. But if I have to reapply sunscreen to myself or my kids during a fishing session, I will scrub my hands with wet sand then put a couple of drops on aniseed on my hands to mask any remaining sunscreen smell. Fish might not like aniseed any better than fresh bait, but I'm pretty sure they don't like bait coverd in sunscreen.

I would think that the best attractant in the world will never outfish a well presented fresh bait or the right lure in the right place at the right time.

Cheers
Jeff

[onerabbit]

Cheers Gorrilla, point taken, if it can be used in a commercial berley it must be ok.

Muzz

[finga64]

Your Mrs wouldn't happen to be able to get similar pure Citronella Oil would she? I've been looking for somewhere local to get it at the right price (I use it in an insect repellant brew), but the nearest place was Byron, which had a prohibitively high postage cost...

Good luck,
Mike

Gidday mike and yes, no worries.
Aah Byron, the land of the yuppie and ripoffs. I suppose they want to charge $1.75 for 250gm of oil and $137.50 to post 250gm were they??
Quantities from 6gm to 10kgs. How much were you talking about and I can get a price for you??

And thanks fellas. Haven't got much to loose have I. A couple of drops and away I go.
I'll have to do an experiement. Same bait, me with the aniseed, the cook without.

P.S. Anybody wanting essential aniseed oil give me a cooee as I'll ordered a kilo of the gook.
Cheers Scott

[2iar]

Cheers Finga,

I've got enough for the moment, but next time I need some I'd like to buy about a litre. Is the missus able to get it any time, or is it a one-off offer? Any idea what it woulkd cost for opure citronella oil?

Thanks,
Mike

[laz]

an old feller i knew put me on to it .tried it once years ago when soaking worms for yellow belly still waiting for a bite

[outsiderskip]

never use it
heard if u use it fish has got be cleaned imediately

pete