That does remind me of my second worst bad bait experience.. We were fishing the WICC tournament and it was hot all weekend. We picked up serveral flats of mack and bunker as well as 20 and 30 pound tins of "Bunker Chum". Most pre-packaged "Bunker Chum" is probably the already mushy, rotted stuff that the bait shops can't give away for free. I think our modern, resourceful, recycling oriented baitshops figure they can still move it if the stick it in a can with a pretty picture on it. :P
Well, we had something like 3 or 4 cans and were chumming frequently for big blues but one can had for one reason or another, spent the entire daylight hours of the weekend in direct sunlight. Heading out early on the last day, the pounding of the boat in the waves must have caused the natural forces of rotting fish in action as we saw the tin gradually building up with pressure and expanding!!! It would be a living hell if that thing exploded!!! Jeff, the owner of the boat volunteered to chum/ventilate/asphixiate the chum. It very nearly exploded on him!! It did give off the worst smell I think any of us had ever dealt with... Still not as nasty as the herring tank but the smell was certainly worse
