Anyone grind up whitebait and make their own chum blocks? I realize that this isn't rocket science but I know you guys get pretty crafty with stuff like this. Just lookin for some pointers....

thanks

Myself and groupernuggets have thought about it, and kept the bait to do it but then looking at the job in its entirety we realized that $8 ( or however much they are now) was worth it. Unless yourr running through a few bags a week I wouldnt mess with it. Its just gonna get ugly :)

this is a good point............

I've bought so many chum blocks in the past and have been no help whatsoever. I once made my own chum that I poured into an empty gallon. I had caught Mackeral and grounded up the heads and the guts. The following weekend my friends and I caught 45 Macks plus some jacks and ladies within an hour in a half. Best chum I ever used. only problem was that I blew up my moms blender making it.

I think a good way to do it is to mount a cheep meat grinder to the boat some how and just run a fish through it every once in while.

yea but the only problem with that is no one wants to mount a meat grinder to their boat.....then you have to bring some kid along who just wants to play with fish to sit there and make chum all day- it takes up way too much space. $8.00 guys

I think Austin meant to add that meat grinder to his kyak for bull shark fishing!

acenos wrote: Should bring the toothy critters of the deep right to me right! lol

The BIG issue should be mendenhaden oil. That oil is added to chum blocks. That means that if you are chumming for snapper
of other "desirable" fish, the oil will attract sharks and mackerel. That means your fishing ends as the fish are destroyed by the
predators.

You do NOT want menhaden oil unless you want toothy critters destroying your attracted fish.

Pair of scissors and an occasional cut baitfish works well. You can still fish, cut fish and chum without trouble. Don't feed the fish...
chum them in WITHOUT menhaden oil.

The best chum offshore reef / bottom fishing is the following in my humble opinion... :thumbsup:

#1 Set someone up (usually a child to keep them busy or a lady / older angler that doesn't want to tangle with the bruisers) with a chicken rig baited with small pieces of squid... fish regurgitate and fish puke makes great natural chum at all levels of the water column... *this adds to others catching fish and the same over and over and over...

#2 Gut your catch... guts stink and make great chum also... plus it all but eliminates any issues with your fresh catch...

#3 Keep your bait from your trip... ALL of it, frozen, dead, live, fish, shrimp, crabs, etc... chunk it all up (don't use your mothers blender)... put it in an appropriate sized container WITH some menhaden oil... pitch a spoon full over board every 5-10 minutes... DO NOT place it in a bag... a huge oil slick on top attracts the wrong fish!!! *An oil slick will be visible just from pitching it into the water thus the every 5-10 minutes... eliminating a steady stream...

*Menhaden oil works... I have made chum up that included outdated food (Doritos being one ingredient) and caught snapper and grouper that puked up Nacho Cheese Doritos when they hit the deck!!!

That doritos story is hilarous! :laughing:

Kdcarey wrote:
But true!!!