The classic modern work on scent is perhaps Tom Robbins, "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues";-)
On bream, artificial terrestrials like the large black ants found in the piney woods or rubber spiders have always worked very well for me on the fly rod, but nothing beats a grey cricket w/a single split shot crimped about 7" from the hook on a long cane pole w/the line near the same length as the pole. I picked up [caught] a double hand sized red-ear a few weeks back on a tiny beetle spin using an ultralite rig w/#2 line. Good fun. Let it go back for the breeding season as it was a loner. I was suprised to have even caught it in Jan. Was mostly killing some time on a nice enough day in E. TX.
That old combination of Hoppes #9 & recently spent paper hulls is a hard one to beat. BTW, Federal does still use paper wound base wads in at least two of their hulls, their classic paper hull bunker trap loads & the Top Guns, the latter having plastic hulls. I'm pretty sure they do the same with the paper hulled normal 32 gram ATA trap loads too, but have not purchased any lately, so can't speak to that in the present. BTW, the Top Guns do not emit the correct scent, but do have the same wound paper base wad. That leaves one w/the conclusion that the scent comes from the waxed paper tube .. probably as it burns those tiny pin holes just above the brass. I have intended for years to throw some of those old spent pin holed paper tubed hulls on a camp fire & see if they give off any similar odor to having been fired, but never seem to have gotten around to doing so. Aside from having 'that' smell, both of the aforementioned hulls make for soft shooting reloads as can the B&P hulls which are minus any scent factor w/their Gordon system plastiqe base wads.
