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The Basics of Chumming
by Capt. Mike Holmes
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Using "chum" is one of the most basic and effective of all saltwater fishing techniques.
It works on the same principal as bribing government employees or building a political power base through support of a welfare state, in that fish - like people would prefer a free and easy meal to having to hustle for the lunch, - and that they will continue to follow the source of the handout until it ultimately leads to their own demise.
To put it more simply - dump free food in the water, and you'll attract fish!
The art of chumming can be much more subtle than some less experienced practitioners might realize. There are many different types of chum, methods of presentation, and even objectives to be considered. The one constant in this equation, however, is that the proper use of chum will virtually always increase offshore angling success.
First let's look at types of chum. Traditionally, different coastal areas have developed their own favored chumming methods - and the chum to go with them. East coast shark and bluefish anglers seem to prefer ground chum - any fish oily enough to leave a good "slick" on the water. Tuna fishermen targeting giant bluefin over wrecks off Montauk or yellowfin over the canyons on the edge of the continental shelf prefer to call their method "chunking", because they use large bits of baitfish, quite often butterfish - cut into chunks with a knife and tossed over the side in handfuls. In the Florida Keys, guides after reefs after various snapper and grouper species often make a "ball" of ground chum mixed with sand to help it sink. Australian fishermen targeting great whites used seal and whale oil, until marine mammals came under more protection. On the West coast, live sardines are often used as chum to get gamefish excited and feeding close to the boat.
When I first started using chum in the Gulf, back in the caveman days of the '70's, we were actually "chunking." My fishing partners and I would cast net mullet, shad, croakers, and other small baitfish and cut them into bite-sized pieces. I have tried grinding chum with a hand operated sausage grinder, but it is usually a slow and painful process - fish scales, bones, guts etc. tend to plug up the outlet die, and the skin of mullet wraps around the hopper screw. An electric grinder might work better. When I shrimped in West Galveston Bay, squid were easy enough to come by that they became a primary source of chum. As a serious "chummer", I purposely save fish scraps, shrimp heads and shells, even crawfish heads - for use later. I have known fishermen who tried various dry dog foods, and others who swear by canned cat food.
My favorite chum is still gathered with a cast net. While finger mullet and other baitfish are good, small shad or menhaden are tops on the list. Shad of an inch or so in length need not be cut - they make great chunks used whole. The scent appeal of shad can be controlled by how long they are allowed to sit in a bucket of summer saltwater before being frozen - although they are at their very best fresh (sometimes "aged" and frozen chum will float). The silver sides of these small fish provide a visual attractant as well (before we were all so environmentally aware, strips of aluminum foil were acknowledged to make an excellent visual "chum" line).
Of course, chum can be purchased. Frozen chum is available in many bait outlets - although purchasing enough for some trips might be difficult and expensive. Some companies now market menhaden oil for chum - which can be used to lay down a very effective scent trail. "Bait" shrimp frozen in one pound boxes can be very useful to have in the cooler for those trips when a little chum might or might not be needed - it can always be refrozen for use later on. Our practice is always to take more bait along on offshore trips than we think we'll need. Leftover icefish, mullet and squid that have gone back in the freezer are not the best choice as a primary bait the next weekend, but make good chum for "chunking".
Presentation of chum is important, and should be planned according to the style of fishing it compliments. In chumming for shark and tarpon, the object is to get a long chum trail or slick out to intercept traveling fish and attract them within biting distance of baited hooks. Depending on wind and current, this can be done from a drifting boat, or one anchored or tied to rig. The important thing here is to have an unbroken chum slick, so that fish following it don't hit a gap in the appetizers and lose interest. It is also necessary to dole out enough chum to attract, but not enough to make a main course for finny diners. Using chunks requires that someone be constantly involved in cutting and dispensing chum, although this chore can be rotated among crew members. As insurance, a chum bucket with holes drilled in it or a net bag can be used to hold a quantity of chum in the water near the boat at all times, allowing scent and small bits to wash out at a steady rate. With this technique, chunking may be done merely to "sweeten" the slick for extra appeal. I sometimes freeze shad in bags or hard plastic containers, let them thaw just enough to break free from the sides, and dump the entire mass overboard. The ball of shad will float away in the current, and individual shad will fall away as they begin to thaw and the connecting ice melts.
This method of laying down a long chum slick also works well for king mackerel, dolphin, bonito, and ling - I've even had billfish in the slick (as well as sea turtle and porpoise). In the summer Gulf before shrimping season opens, pretending to be a culling shrimpboat can be a very effective technique for tournament winning kings. Fishing the chum slick can be done with live or dead baits, and it is best to stagger them at different distances behind the boat. Mix up the bait depths, also, with some on bottom, some drifted naturally in the current, and a bait or two held close to the surface by floats or balloons.
Last summer we were able to chum kings virtually to the transom, sight-casting to them like hungry school dolphin. On the occasions when they would stay further behind the boat - but still actively working the surface - a bait drifted back with a styrofoam float drew immediate strikes.
It is also a very good practice to troll back through the area chummed at the end of the day, presenting lures or baits to late comers who haven't had time to track down the source of the chum - or lost the trail for some reason.
Chumming has always been recognized as the best way to draw dolphin out of a weedline, or out from under floating debris, and get them into a feeding mode. A handful of shad or shrimp tossed to the edge of their cover will quickly reveal the presence of school dolphin - making it fairly easy to "harvest" them with small jigs or pieces of cut squid. The same technique works around mid-day shrimpboats, which often have kings, ling, dolphin, even sails, hanging in the shade, but sometimes reluctant to come after a lure trolled nearby.
The other basic use of chum is when drifting rigs. Depending on current and wind, beginning a drift either at a rigor on a parallel course which will bring the boat close as it passes, while sprinkling handfuls of chum will set up a good shot at kings, ling and even snapper. Here again, small shad are probably the best chum, but any sort of "chunks" will do. Baits should be drifted with either no weight, or just enough to get beneath the surface, although sinking one to mid-depths will increase shots at sow snapper.
Don't give up after just one pass, repeat the drift until it is obvious there are no hungry fish around, until you've caught what you need at this spot, or until other boats catch on and begin falling in behind you (a very likely possibility).
The list of fish species I've seen respond to chum covers just about everything catchable in the Gulf - tarpon, shark,ling, bonito, jack crevalle, ling, marlin, bluefish, bull reds,red snapper, bull dolphin, barracuda, amberjack, gafftop catfish, if they eat, they'll react to chum.
I even sometimes take bags of frozen fish heads and carcasses offshore as triggerfish chum. When 'triggers are especially bad around a good snapper rig, dumping a large mass of food in the water will often take the triggerfish and spadefish away - at least for as long as it takes them to devour it.
So it seems you can chum them in, or you can chum them away. Regardless of the need, chum might easily be classified as the offshore fisherman's best friend!
* * * * *
The answer to a several sided dilemma here is to return to the days when fishermen caught much - or all - of their own bait. Since the net ban question came up, I've read articles by younger writers and quotes from well-known guides suggesting that we must learn to use cast nets and to hunt for spots to catch bait. Well, guys, some of us have continued doing this all through the years of cheap, plentiful frozen bait. While doing so, we've made some pretty good catches of fish on days when they weren't so eager to feed on less fresh offerings.
Keeping a boat in a coastal marina can be an expensive proposition. If said boat could be trailered instead, one looks for as many reasons as possible to justify that expense. Wandering around most lighted docks at night with a castnet can provide enough bait and chum to ease the pain of monthly stall rental. Menhaden (shad), mullet, sand trout, skipjacks, piggie perch and croaker can all be found around the docks. The waters under fish cleaning tables are often teeming with bait sized shrimp. We get into some pretty good speckled trout under the lights at our marina in spring and fall, but also catch good numbers of bait sized sand trout on rod and reel in the process.
Having a few bags of small shad for chum has made the difference on many offshore trips, and having a variety of natural baits allows the fisherman to offer an expanded menu to the fish he seeks. Many times we've stopped catching fish on one bait, but got them going again immediately with a switch to something else.
Those who don't dock in a marina can find bait in the surf, bays, coastal bayous and marshes - practically any spot with shallow water and access to throw a cast net.
While fresh frozen bait - or bait iced and never frozen - is usually a better choice than purchased bait, live bait is even better. A bait well filled with mullet, piggies, or croaker will open new doors for the offshore fisherman. Triggerfish and spadefish are less likely to bother a larger live bait, but sow snapper, ling, amberjack and grouper will be happy to see them. Several bait outlets in the Freeport, Texas, area where I do my fishing sell live piggies and croaker - sometimes mullet - for those who don't catch their own. I often read about using live shad, but my experience has been they they don't survive capture and confinement in a bait well for very long. Live shrimp can be killers on winter-time snapper, and even mud minnows can be good offshore baits.
So far, I've discussed baits that should be caught prior to the fishing trip, but there are also baits available "on the grounds." King fishermen sometimes curse bonito (properly little tunny) and jack crevalle, but these hard-fighting species provide some of the best cut bait possible for snapper and grouper - even amberjack. Around rigs and over structure, blue runners, various small grunts, piggy perch, bluefish, triggerfish, and spadefish can be caught on light tackle and converted to cut bait. Vermillion snapper and lane snapper are also good baits for their red cousins. Pieces of shark are good cut bait - practically anything except remora will work, - I've never had luck with remora. Of course, smaller fish can be used as live bait for many larger species.
Trollers who depend on an icefish behind a jig of some sort as their main offshore weapon will find a properly sized mullet or sand trout works just as well - and a silver skipjack works even better. Strip baits cut from bonito are also good. Drift fishermen using live mullet will score more and better fish than if using dead bait, something we proved many times over last season. While night fishing 50 miles out of Freeport over Labor Day weekend, I was broken off four straight times on 50 pound tackle after dropping live mullet to the bottom - the probable victim of big warsaw, amberjack and one large ling that came up long enough to be identified.
In warmer months a good circulating live well is necessary to keep baits alive, but in cool weather they'll survive in a 5 gallon bucket for the better part of a day.
To sum up, there really is no bait crisis. If shrimpers and bait dealers in most areas would spend more time marketing the wasted by-catch that gets shoveled back into the bays and Gulf, there would be TOO much bait available, but as long as there are cast nets and small hooks available, we can catch our own bait. Rather than being a bother, I've always considered this an enjoyable part of the fishing experience, and a skill well worth acquiring.
One thing to remember, regardless of one's stand on fisheries conservation, a dead fish is a dead fish, be it a marlin or a piggy perch. Man issues relative valuations to fish species according to their importance to him. Nature doesn't feel this way. If we ban net fishing for the species we pursue with rod and reel, a ban on netting bait species is also in order.
In an ideal world, a little of each might be acceptable.