What insect repellent should I use when smallmouth bass fishing — DEET or picaridin?
Picaridin. Keith Jones's Berkley research showed bass strongly repelled by DEET at roughly one part per million, with one application on the hands tainting lures for 90 minutes or more. DEET is also a plasticizer that softens monofilament, soft plastics, lure paint and sunglass frames; 20 % picaridin lotion or wipes protects as well without attacking plastics. Treat clothing with permethrin at home and let it dry — never at the water, where it is highly toxic to fish while wet. On a buggy river a head net or a Thermacell-type unit keeps repellent off your hands. Smallmouth fishing is finesse fishing, and that is where DEET bites hardest: light line and leaders, tubes, drop-shot baits and ned plastics are small, slow and handled constantly. Apply repellent with the back of the hand, away from the rod locker, before you touch a bait.
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