Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Does anybody chum their ice fishing holes

If so what do you use and how successful have you been with it

Used to bring a bunch of hard boiled eggs. We'd eat the eggs and crunch the shells & drop em down the holes.

Only when I've been drinking all night.....

Tony

Chumming of any description is illegal in Utah, so my answer is no.

There used to be a booklet titled "Herter's Professional Guide's Manual" in which one tip was to tossed crushed egg shells into the water on the basis that the curved shells wobbled as they sank, working as an attractant.

We have done this in the spearing (dark) house in the past in order to help see the bottom in murkier water. I think what Irving is refering to however is the practice of throwing bloody fish parts down the hole to act as an attractant to predator fish. This I have not done.

We cannot chum here but I know guys who have put scent on a rag down the hole and taken it with them at the end of the day.

What I was referencing was the practice of dumping dog food and other stuff to lure baitish in a area to keep the game fish in the area. I know the best way to catch fish is to keep moving and locating the fish with a vex. But I was thinking more in the line of a permanent shanty

Where legal buy a large can of cat food (fish flavor) that has a pull up ring to open the can. Pull up on the ring until can only opens about 1/2". Punch 15-20 ice pick size holes in sides of can. Now tie a string to ring and jig it about 1-2' off the bottom.Works best in water with a current either natural or when they are pulling water at a dam site.

Fifty years ago we used to use half-cooked elbow macaroni to chum the holes for whitefish. When we started catching them with the macaroni in their stomachs, we stopped chumming with it, and used it for bait.

Still works!





Guess it would still work as chum, if you wanted to give it a try.

The odd pike and laker will come by and pick it up, too.

Ted

Not legal here, but if I was to give it a try, I'm sure I'd be quite good at it.

The Ludicrous link above bring to mine one of the Shakleton or Scott expeditions to the Antartic where they were off loading ponies on the ice. Killer whales were bumping the ice in an attempt to harvest some dinner.