12-12-2002, 11:12 AM
[cool] Always check for the legality, but yes, chumming is usually a good way to draw in fish. I think the effectiveness is sometimes more a matter of scent than actually feeding the fish, although it doesn't hurt to get them used to opening their mouths and scarfing down the same thing you have on your hook.
A trick I learned a long time ago, which brings in the fish and doesn't waste a lot of bait, is to take some of what you are using and squish it up in some small mud balls. You can throw the mud balls farther than small pieces of bait, they sink to the bottom and gradually release the scent into the surrounding water. The fish know there's food in the area, but go crazy looking for it. Of course you make it easy by serving some up on your hook.
This works really well with garlic scent and with anise oil (licorice) too. I sometimes doctor a bottle of salmon eggs with some garlic powder the day before a trip. Then, putting some garlic scent in the spot you will be soaking your bait gets the fish tuned in on it.
If your supply of freah roe is limited, I don't know if I would recommend using it for chum.
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A trick I learned a long time ago, which brings in the fish and doesn't waste a lot of bait, is to take some of what you are using and squish it up in some small mud balls. You can throw the mud balls farther than small pieces of bait, they sink to the bottom and gradually release the scent into the surrounding water. The fish know there's food in the area, but go crazy looking for it. Of course you make it easy by serving some up on your hook.
This works really well with garlic scent and with anise oil (licorice) too. I sometimes doctor a bottle of salmon eggs with some garlic powder the day before a trip. Then, putting some garlic scent in the spot you will be soaking your bait gets the fish tuned in on it.
If your supply of freah roe is limited, I don't know if I would recommend using it for chum.
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