When it comes to the sport of fishing, there are a wide variety of unique and pungent smells that one may encounter. Some of them are good, some bad, and a few are really bad! Smell is one of our most primitive senses and therefore can have a powerful and profound effect on our physiologic and psychological behavior.

For me, my favorite scent would have to be the invigorating smell of salt air early in the morning. This stimulus always releases a flood of great memories, most involving past adventures out on the ocean. For this reason, inhaling salt air always improves my approach to the day.

Another great smell that always gets my attention is the aroma of a Cuban sandwich. These tasty fragrances quickly saturate the air surrounding the boat. Amazingly this unique local delicacy always combines perfectly with sea air and dining on one of these fabulous sandwiches while bobbing around on the ocean is always a great experience!

Recently, people have been telling me they notice a faint bait-like smell that seems to surround me. I think they are crazy. I take solace in the fact that if you hang out at the bait shop no one seems to mind too much, since it is an odor commonly found around fishing guides.

The fact is many odors associated with fishing require a little time to fully appreciate. Psychologists refer to this olfactory phenomenon as accommodation, which is a fancy way of saying that once you have become accustomed to a particular odor you may not even notice it -- although many of your friends will.

Unfortunately for novice fishermen, when you combine these distinct pungent odors associated with saltwater fishing with a rocking boat and a little hot sun, it doesn't take very long before someone starts to spew (typically referred to by guides as low cost chumming). In these situations, it is imperative for the seasick fishermen to try to puke on the outside of the gunnels, and hopefully, if time permits (which it rarely does), down wind. This particularly unique and offensive odor is never appreciated by anyone else on board and can lead to what I refer to as "gang-spewing." Interestingly this pungent odor really doesn't seem to adversely affect the fish, and, if done with proper gusto, can actually attract a lot of fish.

Bait, particularly squid, seems to have the ability to permeate everything within a 10-foot radius. Coming in next would be chum and dead shrimp, both of which give off a peculiar scent that fish love, but for some reason won't come off my hands for days, no matter what kind of soap I use.

One peculiarly pungent and unusual odor fishermen may encounter, and probably will never forget, is bird poop. I am not talking about a little poop scattered on the dock. I am talking about layer upon layer of thick sun baked digested fish bird droppings deposited on navigational structures erected at sea. I recall one day catching a whiff of this particular odor coming off one of the towers located out in the Gulf of Mexico. We were approaching down wind (oops) and even though we were still quite a distance away my fisherman turned and said, "What the •#@• is that awful smell?" Flats guides are also treated to the unpleasant fragrance of digested fish doo-doo while working close to the edges of mangrove islands. Indiscriminant and messy nesting sea birds and Pelicans can actually turn sections of a mangrove island white.

Bilges are in a world of their own when it comes to emanating positively unique odors. Gravity draws everything on the boat down into this dark and dank hole. Add the heat of the day and you have a slow cooked collection of fetid water, fuel and bait sloshing around in your bilges. This fermenting mixture has been known to adversely affect even the most seasoned mariner.

I recently walked in the house after a day of fishing. I barely got a foot in the door when my wife turned in my direction and blurted out, "You stink!" Not exactly the welcome home I wanted but, in retrospect, she may have been right. I obviously had "accommodated" to my raucous odor. I sniffed my shirt and quickly realized that it was covered with sun ripened baked fish slime (which to a guide is merely the sweet fragrance of a successful charter). Of course, this aromatic fish smell was also mixed with the pungent odor of perspiration from a full day of poling a flats boat under the scorching sun.. Even though I didn't think I smelled that bad, I conceded the point, figuring that it was better than using my only available excuse: The residual effects of the enchilada I had consumed the night before.

Even though I knew I would never be able to wash off all of the smell, I took the high road and headed straight for the shower. I could hear my wife muttering something about hosing me off from now on before I came up the stairs. Remarkably, my dog did not seem offended by any of these odors emanating from my clothes and pores, and was more than happy to see me. Dogs are good like that.

While I will concede that there are many offensive odors associated with fishing, I am always amazed when people say they can't stand to eat fish because, "It stinks." I have cleaned a lot of fish, and when properly handled and chilled, I have NEVER noticed a fresh filet to actually smell fishy. Of course, this may be due to the fact that my olfactory cells have been permanently damaged by repetitive insult from the bilges, bait, chum, etc., and at this point I really don't know what stinks any more. Bottom line, if you start to smell like a fish, you probably are a happy fisherman.

Capt. Pete Peterson welcomes comments and suggestions sent to petersonventures@aol.com.