What makes good chum

Range cubes can also be put in a dispenser for chumming in a specific spot, just as any other chum. Pictured here is a wire basket with range cubes in it. You can also use a chum bag to slowly release the range cube scent. Float the dispenser midway down the water column. Rice is used as a main ingredient or a binder in many chum recipes. Rice attracts such species as various bait fish, catfish, snapper and trevally.

Rice is cheap and easy to use. Some freshwater fishermen use leftover cooked rice as chum, the fish go crazy seeking the little white pieces falling thru the water column, probably thinking they are worms. Rice mixed with a can of chopped clams and some clam juice makes a quick saltwater chum. Just let the rice soak up the juices overnight. You can also use canned oysters or any other canned fish, the best are canned in oil. I have a chum collection bag going in the freezer that once full I grind up some chum.

Whenever I cook rice I always cook a little extra and throw leftovers into my freezer chum bag. Check out our Freshwater Recipes for chum recipes using rice. Sand is used as a binder for your chum recipe. First get all your ingredients mixed up in a bucket or bowl, then add the sand to bind the mix together. The sand will help sink the chum deeper into the water column, but won't last long as your chum dissolves.

Us sand from the same body of water you will be fishing in for best results. Although looking like small crabs, sand fleas are not crabs at all. Also known as mole crabs, sand crabs and lucky cookies, sand fleas are found on the beach near the waters edge in the surf, so look for them when you are surf fishing. Usually hiding in groups right under the sand at the waterline, especially when there is a low tide, they bury their bodies in and stick their head out of the hole to catch food rolling in with the surf.

To find them, look for surface air bubbles and balls of sand around a center hole close to the water line in the sand. Also look for v-shaped marks in the sand with antenna's sticking out.

They can also be found moving up and down on the beach as the waves come rolling in. If you stand with your back to the sun, you can spot groups of them on the beach. You can scoop them out of the sand by hand or use a sand flea bait rake to improve your catch. Scoop them up and put in a bucket with sand and sea water to keep them alive until you are ready to process.

Sand fleas are great tossed into the water as a chum or if you gather a lot, use for a base for your chum. They can also be put on a hook for bait? Sardines travel in large schools and are caught mainly at night, when they approach the surface to feed on plankton, using nets. Cast netting a school will give you a large supply of sardines to make a wonderful chum mix.

This fish is very oily making it excellent for chumming. Using canned Sardines in oil makes a great chum base or enhancer to your chum mix. You can also put the can with holes poked in it into your chum bucket along with other ingredients like bread.

If you put weight on the can or chum bucket and sink the sardines, the oil will travel all through the water column. Be sure to purchase the canned sardines packed in OIL, not water. Water packed fish gets very mushy and will not last very long. Canned sardines are great for attracting squid, gars, mullet, salmon, steelhead, catfish, and most other kinds of fish.

After you filet your catch use the leftover fish scraps for your chum recipe. The carcases can be cut into chunks for easier processing. Use the whole carcase, bones and all. Shrimp are used by saltwater fisherman more commonly than any other bait. Shrimp can be bought alive or in frozen packages. Left over live shrimp from your fishing trip or fresh netted shrimp are excellent for your chum recipe.

Also adding a package of frozen shrimp to your chum mix is a great enhancer. I also throw in my recipe left over shrimp heads and shells, just grind them into the mix. Using shrimp that come from the waters you will be fishing is the best to use. Fish can smell the shrimp scent, and get very excited when they smell what they are used to eating. I usually use a shrimp net, pictured here, which has small holes, to scoop shrimp out of the water and I keep them alive in a bait bucket.

Any shrimp that do not survive go into my chum mix. If you are as lucky as I am and have a dock on a channel, hang a bait bucket drilled with holes off a line on your dock. The shrimp will stay alive indefinitely due to the changing tides keeping the water fresh, and you always have fresh bait.

Shrimp boats can be found in the Gulf of Mexico all the way up the east coast of Florida. If you find a shrimp boat anchored, you could get some of the shrimp boat by-catch in exchange for some beer, just approach them when they are anchored.

A 6-pack can get you a five gallon bucket or two. By-catch is any unwanted fish that gets caught in their nets that gets discarded back into the sea. Squid is commonly used as cut bait, but many anglers "chunk chum" pieces of squid to attract fish to their fishing spot.

Squid is an excellent for a main ingredient for your chum recipe due to it's stinky, slimy texture. You can catch squid with a net if a school happens by your dock or when on a boat, but the most common way to acquire squid is frozen in 1 lb. Squid is so enticing to fish that professional sport fisherman will go so far as to paint squids on the bottoms of their boats because they are not allowed to chum during tournaments. Wheat is used for making catfish chum. As a main ingredient, just add yeast or beer to kick start the fermenting process, and water.

Let the mix sit for weeks to ripen up. Worms have always been a staple bait for freshwater fisherman but also used my saltwater anglers. A pile of worms added to your chum recipe, either as the main ingredient or an enticer, is excellent if the chum is made for a targeted species. Wax worms are popular bait for crappie fishermen. You can put the worms in a dispenser that has holes big enough to allow the worms to slowly escape into the current.

This will drive the crappie into a feeding frenzy. And you can also add them to your chum mix. You can grow your own worms in abundance and use in your favorite chum recipe. Fish chum is made of a lot of different ingredients but the main two ingredients that seem to be in every recipe of best ingredients are Purina Tropical Fish Food powder and Menhaden oil.

To get the right combination it will take trial and error as every species is attracted to different things. Log in to leave a comment. Friday, November 12, Sign in. Forgot your password? Get help. Privacy Policy. Password recovery. Catch and Fillet. Best Ingredients. Contents hide. Can You Eat a Monkfish? Can You Eat a Ladyfish? All you have to do is cast your line around the staked cat food. Another method you can use in the same type of location: Purchase some fish meal or some brine shrimp.

Get a handful of clay and mix it with the meal or brine shrimp. Form it into a firm ball and toss it into the water. As the clay breaks apart, the enclosed bait will be released into the water and carried by the natural currents, ringing the dinner bell for fish, crabs, and shrimp. Both of the above methods are also a great way to catch shrimp and baitfish in your cast net.

Just cast over or near the stake or the meal ball. Chumming can also be effective in a bay, inlet, or tidal creek. I have just started being interested in fishing and this is what I have been looking all over the Internet for. A great fishing article.

I've written one, and plane to relate more on this wonderful sport and hobby. I never new cat food would work. Thanks for the tips! I'll be sure to try these out soon. Wow, cat food. I always wondered what off brand cat food could be used for besides crawfish bait. Very interesting article. Water Sports. Sea Fishing. Recreational Cycling. Blacked out live well. A live well blacked out with bait. This type of chum can work on the grass flats or in deep water to about 15 feet.

Call around to your local feed store and ask for Purina Tropical Fish food. I buy it in the 50 lb bag. Add water but not too much because it will get too watery. You want your chum to be a little watery but more like mud.

Note that I start by adding just a few hand fulls to the bucket at a time. You want it to be thick so when you throw it in the water it breaks apart and spreads out.

Lastly, you add the secret ingredient, menhaden oil. You add a couple squirts of the oil and mix it in and now you have the secret potion. Ball it up into small balls and get ready to toss Throwing The Chum Where you throw the chum all depends on the following three things: Tide Which way the water is going How fast the chum sinks If the tide is going out then anchor up current of the bait and throw your chum towards the front of the boat so it will have time to sink so the bait will smell it. Fish Chumming Tips If you accidently add too much water to the chum simply add some more of the tropical fish food to thicken up the chum.

Fish Chumming Video Sign up for FREE to receive the latest saltwater fishing videos, tutorials, product reviews, and fishing product discounts! Sign me up! I hate fishing. Related categories:. Fishing Tips. Notify of. Notify of all new follow-up comments Notify of new replies to all my comments.

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