In wet weather -- whether rain, mist, snowy or melting snow -- your lure might run, drip and wash away from whatever surfaces you put it on. A well-designed "smear" lure smeared on a branch or other holder will not run or wash away. It stays where you put it, indefinitely.
IT STICKS WHERE YOU PUT IT!Cheap or homemade smears might use vaseline as their smear base, but vaseline is not a good base. Vaseline tends to harden (or at least, stiffen) in cold weather. And it was, after all, designed not to "breathe" very much, for it's used to make an air-tight cover for open wounds on the skin and therefore close out all open air to the wound.
Otter Creek's "Smear-It" lures are made with a food-grade petroleum product that not only stays where you put it, but also does breathe nicely, letting the intoxicating vapors of your lure waft out to your quarry for a long time after you place it. And in the long run, one smear of an Otter Creek lure can be re-used; if the smear base develops a non-breathing surface glaze after a week or so, just a pass of the hand on it will break the glazed surface and let the lure breathe again.
