Chumming for panfish?

[Dwayne Denison]

Does anyone chumm for gills? If so what do you use? I am intrested in trying this.

 

Thanks

Dwayne

[JBplusThuy]

Be sure to check your state fishing regs first. Here in California, for example, freshwater chumming is illegal in most places. The list of places it's allowed is pretty short. The great majority of the state isn't on the list.

[SeaRay]

I was in Sportsman's Warehouse yesterday and checked out the tennis ball tosser and found they are $28 so I will be tossing the feed out by hand. Good idea but that is a bit steep it seems.

SeaRay

 

[J. B. Hillard]

Me too, hope you get some responses. I'm interested as well.

 

Myself, if I have any small worms too small for actual fishing I will toss them in the water where I know gills live.

[Johnny wilkins]

 

I have posted on this topic in my blog on BigBlueGill.com - and I run a fishing league based on bluegill fishing near Chicago. It is very small, but I will be trying to boost the numbers in the league this Spring.

 

Check out that post and I will say that your chumming for gills will create the most exciting fishing you have ever experienced. My favorite fishing in the world is fishing for bluegills in quantity. I would prefer catching 50 of these in a couple of hours than fishing for bigger fish and sitting there.

 

If you do it right, and your populations of gills in your lake are good, you can be looking at catching 125 fish per hour using my methods outlined in the post.

 

There are commercial bluegill attractants made for this task and they can’t be beaten by homemade recipe. The suggestions regarding the dog training devices and chucking are inventive - but when chumming for bluegills you want accuracy. 

 

Accuracy is key. Big balls will do you little good. Presenting your chum - attractant with a mix of grubs is the top method in the world for catching bluegills and fish that sight feed at all depths. Spikes are the top bait for this method. Other baits will work, just not as well. Also as for mixes, the groundbait mix we use in competitions for gills is built to perform clean. Not messy. Ingredients in Boilies, oats, and binder ingredients will make for a sticky mess. Most boilie ingredients are built to bind and the bluegill angler wants loose particles in small bits- not hard or sticky items.

 

Think pinches and think fishing within 40 foot from you and no further. The closer to you you deliver the attractant, the more accurate you will be. Fish further away (I recommend 15 - 20 feet for most) and you will create a situation where you are firing food in one place and attracting the fish AWAY from your hook. Yes, they will be feeding, but if you can't fish where you are feeding, you will actually slow your fishing down! For beginners and kids, I recommend 10 feet from you and you will have success.

 

So- since you are fishing closer, you can save on the money spent on a throwing device. More on this later. This is a start and I can sense many more posts and some info on this - my favorite topic.

 

Hmmm - I sense some materials in the making! I will have some good stuff coming this Spring and will be looking for some people to test pilot this for me. Anyone interested in catching 125 fish-per-hour? It's very possible. This is my high-water mark over a 4-hour period in a competition.

 

The methods we might use must be used in trust. I must have your promise that you will release the largest bull males and a couple of your larger gills back into your local watering hole. Also, the people you might teach- you must pass this information on. As a side note, don’t pass on this information to those who you see are filling a bucket with every fish they catch. In a world where some anglers fish with the “I gotta get mine” mentality, we have to guard against arming them with the information to destroy our favorite fishing spot.

 

I say this because I live near a big city and medium-to-large sized fish are scarce because they are over-fished.. Instead of putting a big gill back in the water, catching one is rare for most near me - so they are very tempted to take it home or to the bait store to brag.

 

Look for some great posts, information and tackle coming soon to this very space and my blog

 

Johnny

 

[Johnny wilkins]

I wanted to clarify something "commercial attractants can't be beaten by homemade recipes" - what I meant by this was that by the time the angler combines the crumbs, the diced nuts, the flavoring and bits - their time + the ingredients will equate to a whole lot more than the now inexpensive ground baits built for chumming. The top formula that is available is so finely ground, you would wear out your food processor (add that to the cost : ) ) before your homemade formula was ready to fish... does that help?

Prior to last year bags of bluegill / panfish attractant were $8 - $12 because they were imported. Now you can find them between $4.50 - $5.75 at retail because they are made in the good ole USA!! This means you can fish 2 to 3 times as much right!?

[John Sheehan]

Find them where?

[John Sheehan]

That away Johnny was looking for you to show up here! Thanks for your input.

[SeaRay]

Well you got my attention. I need some educating. I have never seen or heard of a panfish attractant, let alone seen it for sale anywhere, so I echo Johnny's question Where do you buy it??

The other term foreign to me is "spike" . I presume it is some type of worm or live bait but us old dumb southern boys don't know what that is. Heck we call bluegill Bream down here and I have to mentally convert "gill" to bream when I hear it.

Thanks,

SeaRay

[Dwayne Denison]

SeaRay,

A spike is a maggot.

I always just knew them as maggots. spike is from europe, I think. But what do I know, I am just an ol bib overall wearing hillbilly.

[Johnny wilkins]

Yes- exactly. In bait stores up here they call maggots spikes and in our competitions they usually call them spikes. Bream is a term settlers used when describing any flat fish and even some silver fish so nice catch SeaRay. 

 

I am working with the company on this year's new products and will try and get these to online stores within 1 month and to your local retailer. I prefer not to sell directly as distributing the product on my end is harder than having it in stock in stores, retailers that ship out every day.

Since the bags get heavy fast - it is far better to have your local store order it and divide the shipping by a 12-bag box rather than shipping a couple bags yourself.

 

And SeaRay - many top anglers in World Championship fishing wear bibs so maybe you are just sophisticated or a pro angler!

[Howard Webster]

In the vidieos there is one posted by Jeremy R Mayo on a long pole where the guy in chums with maggots and a slingshot He posted it a couple of years ago

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Ive heard of the "bread trick," used to find the fish. Like its name sounds you just toss a piece of white bread onto the water, above an area you think is holding brim. If they are there, they will not be able to resist attacking the bread for long - and so giving themselves a way. Then you can bait up and go to working 'em.

Its kind of a "poor mans fish finder," I guess.