Hello there, old chum

As we become more competitive, anglers tend to leave no stone unturned in their quest to catch the most and the largest fish. This isn’t just for tournament fishing, but there are times well-known fishing spots are crowded, and you’re seeking an edge to lure fish to your baits rather than others. Fishermen readily buy the latest and greatest lures, lines, rigs and baits, but sometimes, the trick is drawing the fish in to notice your bait or lure.

Many fishermen like things prepackaged and easy to use. What I’m going to suggest isn’t, but it is productive. You might want to ask Mike Rowe along on your fishing trips, because making and using chum can be a really dirty job.

I’ve thrown away at least a bushel of T-shirts that were chum stained beyond being saved, but some of the same chum that was ground into them lured in fish that made the day numerous times. Thankfully, tournament winnings were more than enough to replace a few T-shirts, and chum is a small price to play compared to boats, motors, tackle and gas when trying to lure a cobia in for dinner.

Chum is not absolutely necessary, but it will improve your catch. It can be helpful with a variety of species, not just king mackerel and cobia. Swinging a brick into the barnacles on a piling to get the sheepshead fired up is just as much chumming as dumping a handful of chopped-up pogies for kings.

All fish that are meat eaters will respond to chum to some degree. If you’ve used chum much, you know everything from minnows to big fish work the chum line. Sometimes the baitfish it attracts add to the attraction for larger predator fish.

Some fishermen say chum attracts sharks, and that’s why they don’t use it. Chum uses the scent of ground fish and their oils to attract predators, and sharks are upper-echelon predators. However, it also attracts king mackerel, cobia, drum, tarpon and more. If you are attracting sharks, the chum dispersal is working, and you might have to wait a while for desirable, less-aggressive predators to arrive, as they rarely feed as recklessly as sharks.

Chum can be purchased or made. I believe purchased chum is usually being better than none, butI prefer to make my own chum when possible so I can control exactly what is in it. I know the contents and freshness; if the fish aren’t biting, I don’t have to wonder about the chum.

My recipe is primarily ground menhaden. To make a batch, I fill two 178-quart coolers with fresh menhaden as I catch it. They are iced down to stay fresh, as if I were going to eat them. As soon as the coolers are filled, I begin grinding the menhaden.

My high volume grinder is a 2 1/2-HP Chicago electric chipper shredder from Harbor Freight Tools. I had a machine shop make a hopper that allows me to load it with fish from a 5-gallon bucket.

I don’t like my chum pureed but prefer a little size to the pieces. Chum ground too finely dissipates too quickly. However, I don’t want it too coarse, either. The idea is to use chum like an appetizer to lure fish in and fire up their appetites, not feed them a meal. I want pieces barely big enough to eat, but not large enough to fill a fish up.

I mix a variety of chum, blending a little menhaden oil, menhaden milk, menhaden fish meal and glitter into the chum and label it to know which is which. There is a method to this madness and solid reasons for using each of these ingredients.

Menhaden oil is lighter than water, so as it washes out of the meat in the chum, it works its way back to the surface and leaves scent throughout the water column. Menhaden Milk is an emulsified menhaden oil product that is concentrated and has neutral buoyancy. It tends to suspend at the depth it washes out of the meat. Menhaden meal is the solid, cooked portion of processed menhaden and is very oily. Some particles are heavier than water and sink, while some are lighter and float, but both put off lots of oil in the water. Glitter is to make flash in the water like baitfish losing scales while trying to escape an attack from predators. I prefer larger glitter as it has more flash and can be seen farther.

Menhaden oil and menhaden milk should be in stock at your favorite tackle shop; if not, they can order it. Glitter is a craft and hobby section item. Menhaden meal will be the most difficult to find, even though it is used for a variety of things. I usually find it at a tack shop or through a livestock foods dealer. Be forewarned that menhaden meal has a strong odor and will attract insects if not sealed well in an airtight container.

Once the chum is ground and mixed, I load it in gallon freezer bags and freeze it. I have a small freezer just for chum, frozen bait and the odd things I catch or find that need to be frozen — but not in the family freezer. Freezing keeps chum fresh also helps it not disperse too quickly. I typically use six to eight bags in a day of fishing.

I also carry a manual chum grinder on the boat. When we catch more bait than we can use, we keep some to run through the grinder and supplement the prepared chum. Many fishermen take a quick look and think a chum grinder is simply a meat grinder, but the grinding plate must have larger holes so it won’t clog with scales, bone fragments and such. I use a Mr. Chummer from Fish-Ng Accessories that comes with grinding plates with 3/4-inch holes, and it works well.

I also make chum bombs using menhaden oil and chunk-style dry dog food and a scent dispenser for menhaden milk. Both use 16- to 20-ounce non returnable plastic drink bottles that are attached to the downrigger balls by a snap swivel. The  scent dispensers hold Menhaden Milk mixed three or four parts water to one part Menhaden Milk.

Use an ice pick or awl to put one or two holes top and bottom in the scent-dispenser bottle and clip it behind the shallow downrigger. The chum bomb gets two or three holes top and bottom and goes behind the deep downrigger. These are joined by a mesh bag hung over the side at water level to dispense the ground chum. The ground fish falls from the mesh bag and slowly sinks, while the menhaden oil rises from the deep to the surface and the Menhaden Milk makes a mid-depth scent trail. If a fish passes behind the boat, it will know something is happening ahead. The chum trail helps get the fish excited and hungry so they track down the source and eat the baits.

I use an Blacks RC99 release clip mounted upside-down on my downrigger line about 30 to 36 inches above the downrigger ball to prevent the fishing line from tangling with the chum bomb or scent dispenser.