If you’ve seen a documentary on shark fishing, you’ve seen chumming and how the blood scent of the chum attracts sharks from great distances. What if this approach could attract fish under the ice? Read on to see how to chum when ice fishing.
Chumming is the practice of adding ground bait to the water to entice fish and can increase your catch when ice fishing. The drawback? Chumming conflicts with many environmental codes. Knowing where you can chum legally and what scents, colors, materials or baits to use can equal a good day’s ice fishing.
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What is Chumming in fishing, and how is it done?
Chumming is more commonplace in saltwater fishing, and involves throwing ground fish parts, entrails, bone and blood into the water to attract fish. In salt water, Chum is used to draw sharks, or other fish like red snappers on reefs, or Cobia and kingfish.
After dumping chum in the water, you bait your hook with portions of the bait fish used in preparing the chum. As fish feed on the free lunch floating in the water, they’re more likely to take your hook.
Different states have various regulations regarding chumming. In New York State, it’s illegal to chum with fish eggs in lake Erie and its tributaries, while both Rhode Island and Minnesota prohibit chumming altogether. Before you chum, check local regulations for any prohibitions.
Does Chumming work when ice fishing?
Don’t invest too much time worrying about whether chumming works until you’ve made sure they approve chumming in the local township, state, or province you’re fishing. In Ontario, for example, chumming is not only legal for Ice fishing, but an everyday practice for many ice anglers (Reply #6).
Chumming does work when ice fishing, but calls for a little more effort for several reasons.
First, since you are ice fishing, you can’t just dump chum in the water around your boat. You need to pass your chum through an ice a hole to reach the water and attract fish.
Second, water currents can cause problems. In settings with a current, such as, streams, the Great Lakes, or a frozen over ocean bay, your chum can drift and draw fish to a neighbor’s hole instead of your own.
Third, getting your chum to the right depth may require a fish finder or camera to see what’s going on under the ice.
Why is chumming prohibited in many places?
What many call chumming when ice fishing doesn’t match the conventional practice of dumping ground fish parts and guts, mixed with fish blood and oil, into open ocean or inland waters.
The primary reason for the difference is the Department of Natural Resources and Wildlife divisions in most states or provinces.
Wildlife agencies go to great lengths to protect their waterways from the introduction of invasive species. For example, the jumping Silver Carp into the Mississippi river or the explosive gobie population in the great lakes.
In the absence of their native predators to limit their population, these invasive species damage the environment by often out-competing native species for food sources. Their success can deplete the population of native species.
Another focus of most state DNRs is controlling the introduction of potentially harmful pollution into their waterways. The problem of chumming an ice hole like you would ocean waters is that it conflicts with many state regulations protecting the environment, which is why many states prohibit chumming.
If you chum your ice hole, it’s good practice to clean up all debris and leave the area cleaner than how you found it. If all ice anglers did this, there would be less pressure from wildlife agencies.
Tips on chumming an Ice hole
So, how do you chum your ice hole? The first consideration is target species. Every species has its preferred diet and water depth, which varies depending on time of year.
Panfish like Bluegill stay nearer the surface, whereas Crappie like to hang around 8-12 feet in early winter and at 20 plus feet later in the season. Perch often hover near 12-15 feet early in the season and 20-30 later in the season.
Typically, the larger the species, the deeper the water you’ll find them in. So, Walleye are at about 12-25 feet and lake Trout at anywhere between 20-60 feet. These depths tell you how deep you want your hooks, jigs, lures, and chum.
When you’re selecting ingredients for chum, you want to look for certain characteristics in the baits used. This is true with artificial or live baits.
First on the list is visibility. Shiny or sparkly objects attract many fish, like lake Trout or Walleye.
A popular trick among ice fishers is to scrape the scales of shiners and drop them in your hole. As they sink, they sparkle and flash, catching the attention of hungry fish.
Another trick is to drop crushed white egg shells in your hole. As they sink, they flash and sparkle to draw in hungry fish.
The beauty of these two methods is that they’re totally natural and won’t harm the lake. Sure, egg shells are bad for your garbage disposal, but they can actually help clean the water. Perch often responds well to this method.
The second quality you want in your chum is scent. In the same way small amounts of blood can attract sharks, scent in your chum will help draw fish.
A simple way to do this is to crush up some wax worms or maggots and drop them into your hole. As they sink and spread in the water, they release a cloud of scent to attract fish.
Pet food is another way to get a scent in the water, especially dry dog food that makes gravy when wet. Just drop in your hole about ten minutes before fishing. As it soaks up water and sinks, the gravy it lets off becomes a tempting cloud as it sinks.
These are just a few tips to get you started on chumming your ice holes. They are legal in some places, but be sure your state or province is one of them.
Watch this video for some pointers on chumming while ice fishing.
How do you attract fish when ice fishing?
Finding a sure-fire way to attract fish has been the goal of all anglers forever. Ice fishers also chase this dream.
We’ve already learned how chumming can help attract fish, even when ice fishing. The problem is, not all states or provinces allow it. So, let’s explore some other ways of attracting fish.
You can’t attract fish that aren’t there
Sonar works on ice. Save time by using your fish finder to search for fish under the ice before you drill. Clear the snow as smooth as possible, pour some water on the cleared spot, then place your transponder directly on the surface and scan through the ice.
Scan over one or two spots. If you’re not seeing any activity under the ice, try a new spot before drilling.
Fish attractants
A fish can recognize smells 1000 times better than a dog. So your own human scent, hand soap, sunscreen, gasoline from the engine or oil from your fishing reel can all be deal breakers for attracting fish.
Fish scents fall into two categories. They’re a mask and disguise negative smells, or attractants that bring the fish to your hook and cause it to hold your bait longer, producing more solid hook sets.
Different species respond to distinct scents, so knowing your target species decides which scents work best. Scents like anise and garlic are popular because they disguise negative smells and appeal to a wide variety of species.
Species specific attractants target the scent of bait fish by mimicking the biochemistry of their proteins.
| Target Species Scents | |
| Target Species | Best Scents or Baits |
| Walleye | Shrimp, eel, and garlic scents work well with walleye. Bait Cloud is another popular attractant for this species. Keep lures, jigs or live baits moving to attract a strike. |
| Lake trout | Garlic scents tend to work well with trout and can cover scents that might repel trout. Copy their natural prey and use minnows, night crawlers or egg sacks(where legal). Small light colored lures and jigs work best. |
| Crappie | Anise is a winning scent when fishing for crappie. Rub some anise oil on chartreuse or pink jigs before lowering down your line to attract more crappie. Crappie nibbles from Berkeley bump up the effectiveness of minnow rigs. |
| Yellow Perch | Yellow Perch often respond best to live baits such as red worms, night crawlers, crayfish or minnows. Scents mimicking these live baits are worth a try, but live baits or jigs with baits are best. |
Wrapping it all up
Chumming or the practice of adding ground bait to the water can effectively boost your catch when ice fishing, but it conflicts with many environmental laws and isn’t legal in all locations. It’s critical to make sure your state, province or municipality allows chumming.
Getting your chum to the depth of your target species, using bright colored lures or jigs, and the right scents in the water are key to attracting fish. Anise and garlic are good multi-species scents that cover negative smells and invite many types of fish to your bait.
Finally, you can’t catch fish that aren’t there. Before you worry about attracting fish, use a fish finder through the ice to decide where to drill and you’ll be on your way to limiting out.