For most inshore fishing, anglers locate and then cast to them. Offshore, anglers fish areas where the fish should be and will frequently deploy chum to get the fish focused on the angler’s baits or lures. Inshore, chumming is rarely used to catch anything, but black drum are definitely the exception to the rule.
Black drum rely heavily on their sensitive chin barbells to sense food . When using live bait, fresh bait or artificial lures, black drum can almost sense these offerings with their eyes closed. Chumming is a great technique to draw the school into a confined area.
Commercial chum is often made of ground fish meal, but black drum are not feasting on fish parts this time of year; fish are at the bottom of their culinary preferences. The best chumming material what they’re eating the most: crabs and shrimp.
Anglers can take shrimp heads or small pieces of shrimp and toss them around the pilings they are fishing. A couple of handfuls of chum will attract black drum and even redfish into the area. It doesn’t take very much; a small handful will disperse scent a long way.
Sometimes when a few fish feed, the entire school will get in a feeding mode. Always bring enough shrimp to allow a little extra for chum, and it is always best to chum with the same material that is used for bait.
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