Chumming?

    Has anyone ever dropped a perforated weighted bucket with chum in it, or even a weighted chum bag, to the bottom so to attract fish? I was watching a spear vid online and I know I have heard of this being done before but wasn't sure if it is considered unethical, cheating, or even illegal. It seems it could be likened to using a salt lick for hunting dear which I know is frowned upon but people also use flashers when spearing which seems similar as well. I know I have used the guts from my previous catches and placed them on bottom but this is small in comparison to an actual bucket or chum block. Not even sure if I'd employ this method, was just curious about opinions.

    I would be curious to hear people's thoughts on this as well.


    I have been using lobster heads which fires up the mutton snappers, hogfish and grouper, while not causing too much attention from sharks.

    I am sure it is effective and the shark thing is kind of expected, either from the chum or the increased fish activity; but I am more interested in how this is viewed by the spearfishing community as far as ethics of the sport are concerned. I mean is this just another effective strategy to put fish in the cooler or is it like chucking dynamite into a lake, or to use my previous analogy, using a salt lick for dear? There are some very effective methods that I am sure are not considered kosher.

    I and my friends don't have any ethical problem with chumming. The problem is we are more concerned with covering an area well and looking for productive spots. Never seem to have time to merit the hassle of bringing along chum and waiting for it to take effect. I think chum should be used in specific situations, like a very deep wreck where the fish need to be brought up in the water column to be able to shoot them. Until now we've never had a need to do this.

    Dropping a shiny knife in front of some jacks is cheating....chumming is nowhere near that effective.

    We used to make "chumsicles" to help bring in fish when visibility was bad, or in areas where there was lots of small structure but nothing really substantial. We ground up chum, and froze it in a small bucket with a loop of wire sticking out of the top. On the water, we pulled the frozen block out of the bucket, snapped the loop of wire to our marker buoy weight when marking a spot, and let it sit there for a little while as we got ready to dive. It took a little while to melt, so it lasted long enough to bring in the fish, and did a pretty good job of keeping the scent around without giving them much to eat. After it melted, there was nothing to retrieve except the little wire loop.


    I never found it very effective with grouper, but it worked quite well with red snapper and sheepshead.

    I dont have any "ethical" problem with using chum. IMO it takes a bit of the sport out of it. In certain situations like Dan and Jeff mention it may be necessary but i much prefer the sport of finding the fish and exploring the reef/wreck/structure to the target practice of chumming. However I will admit on days where I go out to shoot dinner I have used chum when the action is slow.

    And those are the times I was talking about, I agree that it does take some of the sport out of it if it is a clear day with good action. I just saw the videos and have a bucket perforated with holes that would be ideal for such a method but didn't want to do anything considered taboo. It came to mind because of the low vis we have been having and the dearth in fish in my freezer.

    i have no problem with it but I dont do it...I do gut my fish in the water and like to scale them too, the falling scales through the water will intice a lot of movemement...i have once of twice shot a fish and "brurleyed" it up to get a grouper to come out of a mave cave..it only worked once and I've tried three times

    i like to spear fish

    Shawn, I do a lot of chumming when im in the keys working the dropoff. I learned this technique from JC and Emil. We anchor on an area in about 60-70ft of water on the edge of the reef and the sand and start chumming with Tournament Master Menhaden chum


    My preferred fish chum is the pogies/shad that you can buy at any tackle shop. Leave them out and let them thaw, get them really nice and mush and start breaking them up into little bits. This always brings in fish. Like Judah said. Burleying a fish is also another effective way of bringing fish in. Shoot a "shit fish" such as a chub or spadefish. Scale it, and then start running ur knife against the skin. until it is down to the bone. This technique is REALLY effective and is best done with two people in the water. You can get so focused on chumming, you miss some of the macks and YJs that come into the area.


    IN our are though, I've found that squid chum and again the tournament master chum works well draped off the side of the boat/yak on the reef edge. I've personally witnessed hogfish coming down the ledge line to the chum. Its really like shooting fish in a barrel. We got 6 hogs in one spot doing that one day last spring.


    Back when I was working on charter boats in Tampa, we would drop a weighted chum bag on a downrigger to the bottom of a hard bottom area or wreck if the snapper and grouper wern't wanting to bite. That was almost instanaenous firing up of the fishing.


    Chum is a really really good tool that I like to use a lot. Just gotta watch out for the sharks!!


    Oh and lobster heads work really well too.

    Quote from psychobilly

    Does giving tuna sandwiches to my seasick friends in the boat count as chumming?:D


    Nice one psychobilly :thumbsup2:


    I used to chum with a chum bag hanging on my yak anchor line, until Scott had to back me up one day when I went down to wrestle a shark off my chum bag :laughing3: :thumbsup2:

    I was gonna bring up the Hau vs the shark in a nurse vs nurse battle royal :)
    I thought Hau was gonna rear naked choak the shark out for that two dollar chum bag. Hey, it is all about principle right? :D

    i like to spear fish

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