For over 60 years, Worden’s Rooster Tail spinners have been helping anglers catch everything from trout to tiger muskies. The colorful lures, with its iconic willow leaf spinner blade and pulsating hackle tail are irresistible to just about every kind of freshwater fish — and a few saltwater varieties too.
There is a size and color of Rooster Tail to handle just about every fishing situation and water condition, whether it’s small creeks, rivers, ponds or lakes, Rooster Tails can be drifted, casted and retrieved, trolled and even jigged with great success. The lure’s color, flashing spinner blade and pulsating hackle tail attracts fish visually. The vibrations put out by the spinning action attracts fish by sound and vibration and now — with a newly developed Rooster Tail scent — anglers can add the sense of smell to the ways fish are attracted to their Rooster Tails.
Yakima Bait Company, maker of Rooster Tails and many other lures, is introducing a new line of scents in partnership with well-known scent maker Pro-Cure, Inc. According to Yakima Bait Company president Dan McDonald, the challenge was to create the scents in such a formula that would maintain the integrity of the world-famous pulsating hackle tail of the Rooster Tail.
“Each Rooster Tail hackle is made of real chicken feathers, which absorbs the scent and then allows it to seep out gradually creating a long scent trail as the lure works through the water,” McDonald said.
Other spinners and lures use synthetic fibers for their tails, which prohibit scents from penetrating enough to be effective. Yakima knew that for their scent to work, it would have to be unique.
“We needed something light that wouldn’t hinder the way the hackle works,” said McDonald. “Our formula is not sticky like some scents, but it definitely provides enough scent to the lures to attract fish.”
Over the past several months the company has been testing the new scents on a variety of fisheries, and YBC staff, guides and pro-staff members report their catch success has jumped considerably for all species when using the new Rooster Tail scents.
Eight new Rooster Tail scent formulas are now available from Yakima Bait. The different flavors include Trophy Bass, Crappie/Panfish, Garlic Night Crawler, Shad, Shrimp, Trout/Kokanee and Trophy Trout. Each of the scent flavors are created from natural ingredients and feature concentrated amino acids and bite stimulants that fish can’t resist. UV has also been added to help draw even more attention to the lures in stained and off-colored water.
The scent spray is compatible with other lure components as well. Spinner blades are not affected by the spray and it is not harmful to painted bodies or monofilament fishing lines. And, the new scents can be added to other lures such as plugs, crankbaits, spoons, jigs, flies and even live baits.
Rooster Tail Scents are packaged in a handy 2-ounce pump spray bottle that makes it quick and easy to add to any lure. For more information on the new line of Rooster Tail Scent Sprays, contact Yakima Bait Company at ybcinc@yakimabait.com.