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Chum question

RUGER

RUGER

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Ok so back when I was a kid I remember my dad talking about punching holes in cans of dog food with an ice pick then dropping them in the water then coming back the next day and fish for crappie around them.

Got me to thinking and wondering if this would work.
I want to catch a TARP channel cat. I really believe I know where I can do it.
Thinking about getting some cattle cubes and dropping them in an area then coming back the next day and fish it for catfish.
Relatively small body of water, zero current.
I am thinking drop them in about 8 feet of water?

Waste of time and money, or do you think it would get catfish, and possibly other species to hang around that area?
 
Those guides on the White River sure believe in it. If you fish for rainbows, the guide will have a whole gallon size can of corn and will throw it out by the handfuls. They do the same with dead shad and the rainbow trout guts to fish for the browns later on.
 
RUGER said:
Ok so back when I was a kid I remember my dad talking about punching holes in cans of dog food with an ice pick then dropping them in the water then coming back the next day and fish for crappie around them.

Got me to thinking and wondering if this would work.
I want to catch a TARP channel cat. I really believe I know where I can do it.
Thinking about getting some cattle cubes and dropping them in an area then coming back the next day and fish it for catfish.
Relatively small body of water, zero current.
I am thinking drop them in about 8 feet of water?

Waste of time and money, or do you think it would get catfish, and possibly other species to hang around that area?
Click to expand...
I always heard to use dry dog food in a mesh bag or a large can with holes punched in it with a weight to keep it under water. Just make sure you have a float of some kind tied to the weighted end so you can retrieve it back (as well as mark your spot) and not litter up the water. Just don't do this in the winter around your duck hunting location, it's considered baiting. Before I did it nowadays, I'd call TWRA and make sure it's even still legal to fish over it.
 
TNGunsmoke said:
I always heard to use dry dog food in a mesh bag or a large can with holes punched in it with a weight to keep it under water. Just make sure you have a float of some kind tied to the weighted end so you can retrieve it back (as well as mark your spot) and not litter up the water. Just don't do this in the winter around your duck hunting location, it's considered baiting. Before I did it nowadays, I'd call TWRA and make sure it's even still legal to fish over it.
Click to expand...
Absolutely, anything I do will either dissolve on it's own, or will be retrieved.
 
if i was looking for a TARP channel cat, saltillo would be a good bet this time of year. they used to have my step dads memorial tournament and would bring in some huge channel cats. they spawn along the banks usually around some downed trees.
 
I have never chummed fresh water or still water. That said, I've chummed thousands of times and I have some thoughts.

Chumming with current is a deadly tactic. I would anchor up current of where I believed the fish would be and start chumming. This was very effective for catching everything from bait to tarpon. My personal favorite though was chumming red snappers. You could chum the snappers up to the surface in 150ft of water and catch them on fly, lures bait etc.

What you describe is more like something I did frequently with snook and redfish. I'd stake out in an area I knew had fish and I'd throw a few scoops of live pilchards out using a "chum bat". The live bait would fire up the fish and then you'd cast into the busting fish. A "chum bat" is a plastic whiffle ball bat with the end cut off. You'd drop the chum into the bat and then use it to launch the chum away from the boat where the fish were holding.

My one thought about what you describe is that it may attract fish temporarily, but not hold them. My experience is that the scent will attract fish but it won't hold them there. In almost every instance, the moment you cutoff the chumming, the fish would leave or shut down. The key is to actually give them something to eat once they find your chum slick.

Perhaps you'd be better served just chumming when you arrive. Take whatever bait you intend to use and throw out a bunch of freebies. Enough to start a feeding frenzy and then throw a hooked bait in the same area.
 
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agelessssone said:
Contact Richard Simms at Scenic City Fishing Charters, they catch some HUGE catfish.
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Yes they do. Just got back from a trip over there a couple weeks ago. Well, actually it's been a month now. Wow.
Anyway, the channel is probably the ONLY thing I have a better shot at than they do. :D

However they do get them that big.
 
My Cousin would sink a bale of straw on top of a mound or sandbar along the channel.
He used cheap canned dog food,2-3 cans per bale.

Puncture the cans and sink the bale ..
According too him the bait fish are attached too the seeping dog food and the catfish too the live bait..

It seemed too have worked well for him.
Typically he would fish at night a day or so after sinking the bale..
He always caught a lot of good flatheads too..👍
 

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