Chumming whilst trolling?

[John F]

I've been thinking about this for a while and haven't found a satisfactory answer yet...

Anyone here chums while trolling? I know the guys in CT troll to find the tuna and then keep them around the boat with chum... chumming while drifting it's also proven and commonly used...

My problem is: chumming whilst trolling for gamefish... I know people also cut sardines and throw them overboard every 30 s / minute or so...

I've seen a lure design (by MoldCraft lures) were you use a marlin attracting pill inside the lure's head while you trolling. They call it it the Billfish juice (http://www.moldcraftproducts.com/new_mold_craft_products.html)...

Ok, the concept is there, but I was thing more in the lines of the typical DIY kind of techniques... anyone out there tried it? What was the result? How did it happen?

I'm thinking about a long 50 mm PVC pipe (1.5 m long), fixed to the side of the boat and submerged about 1 m... A block of frozen chum (check my recipe below) would be inserted in to the pipe and as the boat's moving the chum melts and is released to the water column... I know one would have to go a bit slow (3-4 knots)... 

My regular chum recipe:

- keele shag head and guts
- Chokka leftovers
- Lucky star pilchards (the cheapest around!)
- Canned tuna and sardine oil (collected for months)

Everything is mixed in the blender, add coarse salt and freeze it (away from the wife's freezer)!!!   


I'd appreciate your experience/ideas/comments

[benniejordaan]

Easy solution, we do it all the time!

I get all my ingredients, usually left over bait. Chuck it through a mincer. Add a little fish oil and glitter. Mix it up and fill 2Ltr coke bottles with it and freeze them. Then on the boat I tie the bottle with a lanyard so it sits in the prop wash and cut a small hole in the bottom. As it defrosts, the pieces come floating out.

Generally we find as we go over reefs, the bait fish tend to follow the boat, picking up the small pieces. The bait fish following the boat is effectively free teasers!

[John F]

Thanks bennie!

Do you think the the prop wash turbulence disperses the chum line too much? Or that is really not important? How fast do you troll? 5-6 knots?

The glitter idea is absolutely fantastic!

[benniejordaan]

Thanks bennie!

Do you think the the prop wash turbulence disperses the chum line too much? Or that is really not important? How fast do you troll? 5-6 knots?

I think it disperses the smells nicely! I usually troll at 5 knots! But we loose a lot this way. Prefer trolling with baits/live baits like this. Motor just in gear! I think if you trolling at 5knots, it's going to be difficult to actually have a chum line. You would have to have a hell of a lot of chum for it to work and I'm a firm believer that too much chum is not good either. The fish just get fat on your chum without taking your baits. Also, wouldn't chum if trolling lures! When fish take bait, they want bait and won't hit anything plastic. Look at what happens when commercials are catching fish on spinners and someone chucks bait in... Fish refuse the spinners.

[John F]

Ok, I get it...

I'll give it a try next time I go out...

Thanks Bennie!

[jaenswart]

I  do not normally chum whilst trolling, because:

1. Too much chum, too much $$$$
2. Unless you troll up and down the same troll line I think it is useless. (unless you are doing a very very slow troll)
3.It calls the Johnnies

But if I get a couple of 5kg sards for free I might try it in a strong current where my troll is just keeping me on the drop-off or pinnacle

[Capt. Hook]

Easy solution, we do it all the time!

I get all my ingredients, usually left over bait. Chuck it through a mincer. Add a little fish oil and glitter. Mix it up and fill 2Ltr coke bottles with it and freeze them. Then on the boat I tie the bottle with a lanyard so it sits in the prop wash and cut a small hole in the bottom. As it defrosts, the pieces come floating out.

Generally we find as we go over reefs, the bait fish tend to follow the boat, picking up the small pieces. The bait fish following the boat is effectively free teasers!

   I do exactly the same, but never tried the glitter before. I just punch holes in the coke bottle with a blarge screw driver

[Capt. Hook]

I  do not normally chum whilst trolling, because:

1. Too much chum, too much $$$$
2. Unless you troll up and down the same troll line I think it is useless. (unless you are doing a very very slow troll)
3.It calls the Johnnies

But if I get a couple of 5kg sards for free I might try it in a strong current where my troll is just keeping me on the drop-off or pinnacle

I use all my leftovers, even make use of sand soldiers etc. Costs nothing

[Capt. Hook]

WARNING:
Don't do what I did the 1st time I tried this. I put it all in the liquidiser and forgot to put the top on, our kitchen stank for weeks and I was not popular with the wife. 
 
I now have my own mixer and do it outside on the lawn.

[jaenswart]

And you say it costs nothing...lol

[hammertime]

IF we find the yellowfin holding deep we will chum an area. I call it boxing. We will throw handfulls of chum and mark it on the gps. I will then troll a figure eight pattern, crossing over the X mark where we thre chum. As we cross the area, we will chum again. I will do this until the yellowfin either rise into the 20m mark in which case we stop trolling and go to baits or until we get a strike on the backlines.

This method has been incredibly effective for us, getting the fish to rise and most of the times up onto the backlines. For longin it is almost fool proof.
For the yellowfin I normall stop trolling as soon as they hit 20m.

We don't troll the chum along with us though, we throw it out as I mentioned.

For yellowtail, I do troll a crayfish bait bag, that hangs over the bow. This has a mixture of all sorts and the bags that are old bags we put sponges in to wash the boat down (salt water wash only - no soap) have holes in from wear and tear. They make great chum trolling bags.

[Tsutsuma]

I  do not normally chum whilst trolling, because:

1. Too much chum, too much $$$$
2. Unless you troll up and down the same troll line I think it is useless. (unless you are doing a very very slow troll)
3.It calls the Johnnies

But if I get a couple of 5kg sards for free I might try it in a strong current where my troll is just keeping me on the drop-off or pinnacle

Well said Jaen
There is alot of
"Logic & Common Sence" in that
Why waste good bait and just attract sharks
}<(((*>

[jaenswart]

Well said Jaen
There is alot of
"Logic & Common Sence" in that
Why waste good bait and just attract sharks
}<(((*>

Thanks Carlos.

When chumming there is a fine balance between "chumming just enough" to bring the fish into your spread and "chumming too much" which will let the fish feed themselves full at depth and not bring them into the spread

[John F]

Jaenswart,

The idea is to use leftovers that otherwise would go to the rubbish bin. Additionally, this is all shredded in small pieces (in the blender)... no fish you want to catch, would be able to get a full belly on that soup!

I agree that sharks may be a problem, but if that's the case... all you do is stop chumming (or should I say souping?!)...

[benniejordaan]

Chumming attracts sharks as it does any other species. The best fishing grounds will have lots of sharks. The sharks may steel 50% of your catch but they are there for the same reason as the other predators.

[Capt. Hook]

they are there for the same reason as the other predators.

Chow time