When it comes to chumming...You can plug your nose but please don't turn your nose up at it...It's a fun, productive way to catch loads of fish...
...Those that know us know that we go to great lengths to catch all of our own bait...we travel miles & miles out of our way to secure a healthy supply...catching our own bait means that our day begins well before sun-up...hours before we meet our clients at the dock...having a good supply of chum is paramount to making bait so it's only natural for us to grind our own chum. We have a big #32 grinder mounted to a cutting board on a gimbal that slips into one of our gunnel mount rod holders...we can process up to 5# a minute...first it's coarse ground like a smelly version of ground chuck then we pack it into quart and gallon sized freezer bags as well as in 5 gal buckets for offshore use...A chest freezer keeps everything freshly frozen and ready for use...Not only do we use ground chum...but we also brine and carefully freeze whole baits such a Herring, Mackerel, Smelt & Menhaden...These popsicles can be used whole or as chunk chum...or even as hook baits...Did I mention that I love chum!!! The ways that we use chum is almost endless...drifting the open ocean with a block of chum over the side can bring in all sorts of critters....the pungent scent trail draws in everything from bait to large pelagic predators...the first arrivals are usually herring & mackeral...we keep a rod rigged with a sabiki handy to catch these baits...by doing this we can continously supplement our chum line with fresh bloody chunks and stunned livies...and it's a fun way to pass the time...When using our frozen block chum...we can control the amount of chum dispersed by using different mesh sizes on our chum bags...we also make a slurry by taking a frozen block of chum and mixing it with menhaden oil & seawater in a 5 gallon bucket...this stinky bloody concoction is then ladled over the side of the boat in small doses.
In the tidal rivers and in the rips...broadcasting handfuls of chopped chunks around the boat stimulates the schools of Striped Bass & Bluefish...sometimes it takes a drift or three before the chum starts to work but it inevitably happens...Drift a hooked chunk or livie through the chumzone and your gonna get bit...like clockwork!!!
On the flats when we have fly or light tackle anglers aboard...we often use live chummers...thats right if we are in an area that we know is holding fish...we slowly start to disperse live herring or spike macks...one at a time at first and when the fish wake up...we pitch a handful of livies out...thats when the magic starts...The stripers key in on the stunned baits...all the angler needs to do is pitch the fly or lure in the general area that the bait was delivered and hold on tight we can often bring big stripers to within a rod length of the boat...Throwing a handful of stunned baits against a sod bank patrolled by hungry stripers is lethal...and all of this can happen in some incredibly shallow water...another shallow water trick is to bridle a hookless livie under a float, either a balloon or a styrofoam ball, and watch for the swirls as the gamefish tries to eat the tethered bait...this is usually a team effort...one angler on the teaser rod, one angler with the hook rod...a a fly angler casting topwater crease fly or an angler throwing a spook type bait near the float is going to be in for a thrill as the lit up Bass switches from the live teaser to the fly or lure...YUP I LOVE CHUM!!!
Maine' Premier Saltwater Fishing Guide Service
Super Fly Charters
Capt. George Harris
207-691-0745
Super Fly Charters Facebook Page
www.superfly-charters.com
4 comments:
Are you serious? I LOVE CHUM TOO!!! I love making my "little brother" turn the grinder handle and making him hear all of the bone crushing sounds, and witness the oozing through the grinder end plate. HE HATES ME, HE HATES ME I TELL YA! I also love it when my wife digs through the freezer for "supper" only to pull out a frozen tupperware of that wonderful purply looking "ritz cracker spread" (my relatives think it's something expensive I bought for holiday get togethers, hahaha I tell ya'). I promised her I'd get my own small freezer for 2011. Yeah, chum is "for die hards only", those 4AMer's whose main goal is to wake up those livies with purple potion, snag enough spikes and bluebacks to darken the well, and proceed to what will be YET ANOTHER productive striper or blues fest. I'm with you brother George! Chummin' in the morning, Chummin' in the evening, Chummin' in the summertime, Chummin' all through the winter, Chummin' 'til she'll be mine!!! Pass the napkins please!
(We are sick MOFO's)
Hahaha...Ray you're absolutely right chumming is for diehards...while the LL.Bean garbed sally's are still tucked in their beds with visions of fly rods dancing in their heads...we're blasting through the fog and over the teeth rattling chop to the promised land at Mark isl....
please pass the herring pate...and the napkins please!!!
LMAO
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