Irresistible Attraction
CHUMMING CAN BRING THE FISH RIGHT TO YOUR BOAT
Deploying a chum bag will definitely have an impact on your fishing, but to get the most out of the chum, you need to learn how to properly dispense it and what chum to use in a particular circumstance to ensure maximum success and fishing action. There are few situations that do not benefit from a good chum line—in most circumstances, whatever the species, whatever the location, chum will bring results if there are fish present.
Chum comes in several types of packaging. Block chum consists of ground fish, typically something oily like menhaden that is frozen into cardboard boxes. Chum logs are ground up fish that can either be frozen or prepared using a freeze-dried process. There are also several dry types of chum that work very effectively and can be purchased and stored in advance of the trip. One of the things I like most about these dry chums is they give you the ability to use only what you need at the time, keeping the rest stored in its container, eliminating waste.
Dry chums come in different formulas for different fishing situations and are either dried, ground and compressed baitfish solids which are then soaked in fish oils and packaged, or they come in pellet form like dog food, containing many different kinds of fish and concentrated fish oils. These pellet chums are incredibly effective and easy to store. I have been using a pellet chum called “Chum in a Drum” with great success. We have used it right in the chum bag alone, mixed in a bucket to change the consistency, and we have mixed it with sand to create chum balls. It has proven to be very versatile and effective from shallow water to deep, inshore and offshore.
MAKE YOUR OWN
I also like to make my own chum for catching bait. We will create our own burley with canned cat food, canned jack mackerel and bread. All of these ingredients are readily available in the supermarket, basically inexpensive, easy to store and when mixed with saltwater, very effective. Add a dash of concentrated menhaden oil, and you will create a very impressive slick that stretches far and wide enticing inquisitive predators.
We can control the texture and consistency of the burley keeping it right for the conditions we are fishing.Without a freezer and limited cooler space on my center console, the dry pellets and supermarket chum are the best options for me, and I find they are a bit easier to keep flowing consistently to keep the bite on for a longer time than frozen chum.
We also can’t overlook live chum. Growing up in New Jersey fishing the channels, sloughs and holes of the shallow Little Egg Bay out of Beach Haven, I learned early the effectiveness of live chum. Fishing with my Dad, we would dredge for the tiny grass shrimp that the prized weakfish loved. After catching several quarts of the grass shrimp, we would anchor up over a deeper hole known to hold fish and use the tide to carry our shrimp to the fish. Paying out small amounts of the shrimp while letting the hook bait back at the same time could produce great results. Often we could chum up a nice school and keep them there for the entire tide.
Chumming with live pilchards, sardines and white baits in Florida has also proven to be incredibly effective on everything from snook to sailfish to blackfin tuna. Using the live bait chum is very much like using the burley—you need to pay out the chum so that it is working for you and attracting fish into your catch zone. Sometimes you need to inhibit the swimming action of the chum fish by stunning them as you set them out.
SHAKE THE BAG!
One of the key factors in chumming is creating a steady and consistent slick. In order to keep fish coming to you or keep them behind the boat, you need to regulate the chum and keep it going. It is also good to sometimes make a soupy mixture in a bucket and pay out some chum by hand along with the chum falling from the bag. If frozen chum is not thawing and dispensing as regularly as it needs to, keep shaking the bag and agitate the chum to fall away more quickly. The tide or current and how fast it is running will also be a factor in the size and depth of your chum slick.
It is not only important for the chum to go out, it must also go down. There are times when you will need to tie the chum bag from the middle or front of the boat to take advantage of the chum dropping under the boat and therefore being deeper in the water column as you fish off the stern of the boat. Tying off of the bow or amidships may also be an option when the wind is against the tide and the slick and your baits are moving off the side of the boat.
Aside from using the standard issue nylon or cotton mesh chum bag, there are situations where the standard bag may not be optimal. For instance, when using whole glass minnows, the small mesh and uncoated fibers of the bag will not let the minnows out, so opting for a larger mesh size and a poly or coated nylon bag, you will get a more even flow of the shiny minnows falling in your slick. Using glass minnows or sardines in addition to your ground or pellet chum adds a visual dimension to your chum slick with the added size and flash of those baits as they fall through the slick.
GETTING’ DOWN
Getting your chum to the bottom or in a deeper column of water may require using a metal chum pot or a chum cage dropped down with a line. A PVC tube with holes drilled in it and fitted with end caps makes a great dispenser also. I once watched a guide fill the PVC tube with crushed shrimp and crabs then lay it on the edge of a slough. We pushed away and staked off to watch an incredible migration of large bonefish come to it and surround the tube in a tails up, heads down feeding frenzy—a truly awesome sight that provided several nice bonefish battles for the kids aboard.
Without question, using and experimenting with different kinds of chum for your target species will increase your action. And if you need to entertain the kids and get them interested in fishing through catching, there is no better method of fishing than setting up the chum bag and getting them bites, plus it’s fun for kids just to watch the fish that inevitably swarm to the chum bag. They will quickly realize that fishing is not only fun, but very entertaining as well.
For questions, contact karl.anderson@centerconsoleangler.com.