# Chumming for bottomfish



## handfull (May 8, 2009)

I have tried chumming at times, mainly with home-made frozen chum, in water 100' or deeper. Alwya caugth fish, but hard to tell if it's worth the effort. Also, never figured out a good way to get chum down to the bottom, if that matters.

What have you guys done that is successful, or is it not even worthwhile in water 100-150'?

Randy


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## Tyler Massey (Oct 2, 2007)

chumming in that depth of water is normally used to get the fish to come to the top. Red sanpper, Black snapper and amberjack will alll come to the surface in a chum slick. Try out a Chum Churn, they work very well. Also if there is too much current at a spot chumming might not be very effective because the fish over the spot will never see the chum.


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## alm (Aug 23, 2008)

try puting cumm on ancor . in pvc pipe with holes drilled in it and threadcaps on both ends. I have not tried it but think it would work.


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## polar21 (Nov 5, 2007)

we routinely use a weighted chum bag and drop it down 40-50ft. below the boat. Doesnt take very long before the fish get fired up.


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## User6882 (Feb 4, 2009)

get an old potatoor onion sack and fill with your favorite chum, tie it to your anchor line and send it down. 

or you can use the sand sack full of chum and pull a brick or heavy wieght in it and drop it on a piece of rope to your desired depth


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## handfull (May 8, 2009)

do you guys use fresh or frozen chum, anyone have feedback on "on-board" grinders


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## NavySnooker (Sep 10, 2008)

on board grinders are never a bad thing.. what we like to do for chumming is to anchor a bit up-current of the wreck or specific "hole" and drift the chum back into the spot for a while.. this will get you AJ's and snapper away from the structure and right behind the boat... after a while, let some scope go on that anchor rope and drift a bit closer for your grouper etc.. Also, when fishing natural live bottom, i like to add weight to the bag, and drop it directly to the bottom, pulling it up and closer to the boat about every 20 minutes... this will get you larger gag grouper out of their holes enough to when you hook up they take into the "cave of no return." hope it helps, as i really enjoy using chum when bottom fishing, and have done it since i can remember... it's also good to carry a cupple extra bags in case you decide to move to another spot.. once that stuff thaws, it goes pretty quick... good luck and please post a report.. i'm sure we'd all love to see how you did


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## chasintales (Sep 29, 2007)

I use a CHUM KING... it has an bottom compartment taht allows you to add weight and lower it in and then give it a quick jerk and release the chum. I can also use larger chum pieces to get some of the other pelagics working. I have dropped it down 75 feet and released some on some floating debris or weeds and then again at 25 and then throw some in the top. I have a 4in colored spot on my drop rope every 25 feet so I can tell how far down I have gone. It seems to work pretty well. I have even tried to send some live bait down, but I haven't quite perfected that.

CHris


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## NavySnooker (Sep 10, 2008)

sounds similar to what i do.. its crazy how we all come up with different things and most seem to work pretty well... i'm surprised recess hasn't commented on this topic.. their ideas are always on point


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## nextstep (Jun 27, 2008)

if you really what to stir things up on the bottom

use two paper bags (doubled bagged)

put your chum in there with a brick

send it to the bottom

then yank yank yank on line

that will get em stirred up real good


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## handfull (May 8, 2009)

now i like that idea...


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## DeepEndAble (Apr 24, 2008)

i have tried all those things, the paper bag,the chum king,the anchor trick(puts chum too far away and causes anchor too fall too slowly), chum churn is excellent for pelagics but i finally went to an extra downrigger base mounted at the front of my boat to send down the bag. a real chum bag works the best. the chum recipe i found online and is pretty user friendly(no ground fish). i think it did start the bite a few times but a shark or something ate the bag a couple times and it became too much trouble for too little return. i was in 180ft of water though, im sure it would be more produtive in shalower water.


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