What is the best sunscreen for trout fishing that won't put trout off — scent-free, mineral or spray?

Fragrance-free mineral lotion or stick (zinc oxide / titanium dioxide); never a scented spray. PABA, the sunscreen active Keith Jones's Berkley work showed repelling bass, is gone from most modern formulas, and other actives are poorly studied. But trout are the fish to be careful for. Salmonids have the keenest noses in our line-up, and a classic 1956 study found that L-serine from human hand-rinse water alone alarmed migrating salmon at extreme dilution — clean skin is already a signal. So cover up with a UPF hoodie, buff and sun gloves, put lotion only on the face at home 20–30 minutes before, and wash the palms with unscented soap or rub them with streamside mud. Most at risk are the slow, close offerings: soft beads, eggs, bait and small plastics, plus the flies, tippet and fly line your fingers strip all day.

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