Chumming it up

[spinncognito]

I do not fish from a boat and have questions about effective chumming. I fish rocky areas with deep drop-offs and in the past have tossed an occasion handful of herring chunks out in hopes that it will attract fish. I witnessed one guy who filled a plastic two-liter bottle with chum, put some puncture holes in it and tie a rope to it, letting it bob around in the surf. I live within a minute of a herring processing plant so I have an unlimited supply of fresh herring.

What tecniques do you folks use for chumming?

What killer chum recipe have you concocted that you are willing to share?

Is it feasable to use chum to attract fish while using plugs to catch them?

How much is too much chum?

How do you keep the flying rats (gulls) from slurping up all your chum before it becomes effective?

Thanks for any chum-related info!

spinn

[quick decision]

Fishing freak should chime in on this one.

[Fish On]

My technique depends on what I'm fishing for. It varies from a custom chum recipe frozen and dispensed simultaneously in two 5 gal buckets starting with a power slick (for shark tournaments) to a small cage with a pint of ground herring or mackerel for mackerel fishing. I typically do not chum for stripers, but some do.

My recipe includes menhaden oil, sand to fill the water column, oatmeal for bulk, and glitter for visual (not sure how affective glitter is but I use it). Try newenglandsharks.com for some good chumming info.

Where is your herring processing plant? What are their prices?

[Notaro]

I chummed a few herrings in North Shore when I was fishing off the pier. I chopped, sliced, and filleted herrings and toss them into the water. I used the heads or tails for chumming.

[thefishingfreak]

if your feeding them chunks i'd stick a chunk on the hook too.
bass respond well to "fresh" chum but they have to be in the area in the first place or your just feeding the crabs.

[missing link]

another little hint.. cut your chum chunks SMALLER than the bait your using. if the chum is bigger than the bait you are using the fish will go for the chum chunks and not the bait.

that tech. has worked well for us