How to Chum

How To Chum With Live Bait

Live bait chumming is a good technique to use to attract fish or get them biting again. When learning how to chum, the first step is to check local fishing regulations to make sure you are not illegally stimulating the hunger of your future catch.

Once you have checked the regulations, feel free to try your hand at live bait chumming. To master how to fish with chum, the technique can be broken down into a series of three steps:

• Start by preparing your chum. You can choose popular chumming fish like sardines or herring. Just be sure to use live bait to optimize your success and use chum that’s best for the species you want to catch by understanding, for instance, the difference between how to chum for catfish versus how to make chum for bait fish.
• Once you’ve nailed down your chum, you can simply throw it into the water where you’re fishing to bring feeding fish close to your boat. To avoid messy clean up, you can also opt to use a chum bag when live bait chumming. The bags secure the contents while allowing you to dispense chum through holes in the material.
• When learning how to chum, be careful not to over-chum. You want to get the fish interested in feeding; you do not want to stuff them before they get a chance to go after your hook.

Mastering how to chum will help you put this proven tactic to work for a great day on the water.