Anthony Cellemare liked what he saw behind the transom, but he figured it couldn’t hurt to lay the sauce on the dark figures ascending through the water column. A couple shakes of a ventilated sack sent a cloud of ground fish particles and oil wafting downcurrent and the mangrove snapper responded by stepping on the gas.
We were sitting about 40 miles southwest of Johns Pass on Florida’s Central Gulf Coast. Wind was virtually nothing and flat seas provided a glassy mirror through which we could monitor the approach of snapper – along with a fierce offshore bonus (more on that later).
Joining Capt. Sam Maisano aboard a 32-foot center console aptly named “Go Fast Charters,” Cellemare was in charge of an essential element for reef-hopping excursions – chumming. “Watch this – we’ll get this chum going and the snapper will come right up to the back of the boat,” he said.
Methods vary and personal preference often defines specific tactics, but the wisdom of using appetizers and aromas to stimulate interest among your reef quarry is undeniable.
Natural or manmade, reefs throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic host a diverse array of resident and transient species. Some readily leave their structure to investigate a chum line, while others are content to hold their ground and gobble any freebies that fall their way. All will respond to the prospect of free chow.
Scent-sible strategies
Chumming methods are many, but the simplest and most effective option is the frozen chum block. Wrapped in mesh bags and hung from gunwale cleats, chum blocks melt in the waves and disperse oily slicks with tiny bits of ground baitfish. Quality counts, so pay a little more for reputable brands. Look for deep red coloration and a finely ground texture. High blood content means maximum scent, while smaller particles spread best without filling up the fish.
Some augment the chum block contents with concentrated fish oil dispersed from a medical IV-style dripper bag. Most fish oils float at the surface, but a specialized product called Menhaden Milk actually disperses into the water column with smelly cloud. Another option: soak sinking catfish feed pellets in standard menhaden oil to carry the scent through the water column.
For deeper chum efforts – or for gathering large predators like kingfish and tuna – drop a few chunks of cut baitfish downcurrent and these tasty appetizers will get your target audience ready for dinner. (Bonito are mostly a nuisance bycatch for reef anglers, but their bloody, oily flesh is highly effective in a chum slick – and on a hook. Make opposing sets of diagonal slices in the fish’s flanks and then run your filet knife down the backbone to cut lose convenient chum/bait chunks.)
Juvenile baitfish netted over grass flats or near docks provide a convenient variation. Just dribble a half dozen of these inch-long fry every few minutes and the silver shards will quickly attract hungry fish. Chum grinders further diversify this strategy by turning fresh or dead baitfish into a scent-laden paste that spreads much like a melting chum block.
Keep in mind that chumming can occur indirectly. Even with livies in their wells, most reef anglers start with dead baits like squid and sardines, which release a lot of scent near the structure. Twisting off the tails of frozen baitfish maximizes aroma dispersion. Also, don’t fret if your first handful of hookups yield smaller reef rats like vermillion snapper, grunts and undersized grouper. When hooked, these little guys often vomit their stomach contents. Nothing goes to waste in nature, so this will stimulate the local scene, as well.
If you’re slow-trolling a reef site for kingfish, Spanish mackerel or tuna, use your boat to push your chum into the water column. Hang chum blocks amidships and drop any hand-cut chum chunks from the same position. This gives your chum time to sink beneath the hull so the prop wash forces it all deeper. For stationary or mobile chumming, judge current and wind to avoid having your chum flow out of the strike zone and carry your fish with it.
Pausing the fast movers
Migrating kingfish and mackerel will raid every reef and rock they find in perpetual pursuit of their next meal. The key to consistent catches is holding the fish on a particular structure and nothing does so like generous chumming.
Fill your live well with small baitfish in the 2- to 3-inch range, chum liberally with these livies and sending the same size baits into duty on wire rigs. You don’t want to burn your bait supply with a steady stream of freebies, but when the bite is on, rods won’t sit still for more than a minute or so. If they do, your action is departing, so hit ‘em with another round of chum.
Similarly, blackfin tuna dependably follow shrimp boats for the free meals they enjoy while the shrimpers anchor over hard bottom to cull their nets. Tossing out bycatch finfish and crustaceans damaged in the nets creates a long line of free chow that attracts tuna, along with kingfish, bonito and sharks. Moreover, the snapper and grouper inhabiting the structure below will also rise to the freebies.
Savvy anglers who spot anchored shrimpers are quick to capitalize on this complimentary chum job until the culling ends and the attraction ceases. The bite may slow, but the show isn’t necessarily over. Predators are all scavengers at heart and many will tarry in hopes of a second round.
Dice up a couple pounds of frozen or fresh baitfish and you may be able to bring the players back for an encore. Chunk the smelly nuggets downcurrent from the shrimper, hang a chum block and you’ll quickly reestablish the consistency that keeps the fish close.
Bait tactics
When our chum slick started gaining form, I glanced back to inspect the progress and caught a glimpse of something very big circling about 20 feet below. Again, flat seas offered optimal visibility and as the silver specter glided into the sunlight, a greenish back, glaring eyes and toothy jaws made a positive ID for this whopper kingfish.
Responding to the chum line, this big smoker was clearly eager for a meal because Cellemare’s free-lined blue runner had barely hit the brine when a blazing streak of white water ripped across the surface and slammed the terrified bait. A near miss mangled the runner, but Cellemare re-baited and fired off another shot toward the point of attack.
Without the instant surface strike, blue runner No. 2 gained some depth. Suddenly, the water flashed in a silver lightning bolt, Cellemare’s rod flexed and line buzzed off the spool. Twenty minutes later, Maisano’s son and honorary gaff man Joe slung the 32-pound kingfish into the boat.
Bottom fishing tactics don’t change when chumming a reef, but presenting baits to fish that rise in the water column requires some strategy. First, fish know that their vulnerability rises as they ascend, so the farther they venture from safety, the more jittery they become. For this reason, free-lining small baits in a light presentation beats plunking a heavy rig into a pod of nervous fish.
Free-line cut baits on short shank hooks and try to bury the metal in the meat to avoid tipping off suspicious fish. Yellowtail and mangrove snapper are notoriously particular, so you may have to downsize hooks and leaders to draw their interest. In open water, you can often get away with no leader and tie straight to a monofilament main line.
When snapper are especially spooky – as in ultra-clear water – timing can prove critical. A lone bait chunk may find a taker, but camouflaging your hooked bait by dropping it moments after tossing a handful of chum chunks, or after shaking a fresh cloud of particles from your chum bag heightens your chances.
One thing to note is that chumming on shallow reefs may gather a pod of baitfish behind your boat. Kingfish, mackerel, bluefish, sharks and cobia will slash through the school, while snapper will sneak up and grab hapless baits. Improve your hook-up probability by flipping a rigged bait on the outskirts of the school, where predators quickly pick off vulnerable stragglers.
Whatever species responds to your chum will eventually shut down from fishing pressure or lack of interest. Fret not, for there’s always another spot or another fish ready to justify your efforts. Just give the chum bag another shake or cut another handful of chum chunks and get ready for another hookup.
