How to Use Chum for Snapper

By Jonathan Croswell

Chum is used to attract fish by placing a scent in the water. There are many different things you can use as chum. The most popular are dead fish scraps (including the bones and flesh), beef fat, bread and fish oil. Although it is messy and often smells bad, chumming can greatly improve your fishing experience.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Step 1

Decide how much chum you should bring with you. An all-day fishing trip may require up to 25 gallons, while a half day trip may be able to get away with 10.

Step 2

Buy at least a 12 pounds of pogies (menhaden shad) from a bait shop. Pogies are the best form of bait for snapper, although you can use different types of chum if pogies are not available.

Step 3

Put the pogies into a chum dispenser--if you have one. A chum dispenser will make the process much cleaner and more efficient by breaking up the pogies into small pieces and dispensing them into the water slowly, creating a nice chum slick and trail.

Step 4

Find a good area to begin chumming. A good chumming area is often a rock barrier or steep drop-off, where snapper tend to live. A rock line is your best bet.

Step 5

Drop the chum dispenser into the water and turn it on. Otherwise, you will have to slowly spill the chum (which should already be mashed and ground up) into the water using a bucket. This latter is a much dirtier method, and you will want to be economical with your chum, depending on how much you have available.

Tips & Warnings

If the current is strong, try to steer the boat straight into it or with its flow, so that your trail won't get broken up laterally.

About The Author

Jonathan Croswell has spent more than five years writing and editing for a number of newspapers and online publications, including the "Omaha World-Herald" and "New York Newsday." He has spent several years working on tri-annual wedding publications as both a writer and content editor. Croswell received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Nebraska.

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