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Chum / Berley / Berleying / bait balls? (UK?)

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Mr. X

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Hi,
If I understand correctly, it sounds like Chum, chumming, bait balls, berley, rubby dubby & berleying refer to a technique akin to the coarse-fishing technique of laying down ground-bait (ground baiting)? In coarse fishing, ground bait is usually a doughy mixture that clouds in the water -- perhaps dropping mixed in bait, like maggots -- & is used to luredfish into the preferred hunting area & get them feeding.

From what I can gather, it sounds like chum or berley is used in much the same way but is more likely to consist of fish heads & guts from an earlier catch (perhaps frozen -- for storage & gradual release?). Sounds like this is common practice in SA for Tuna & Oz. Is anybody using this technique around the UK/Channel Islands or continental Europe? Any thoughts on the appropriateness/effectiveness/constituency?

Until now, I have beheaded & gutted fish at the sea shore & returned the entrails to the sea (for the crab, lobster, etc.). Although I am now thinking of saving it for crayfish/lobster bait ...and perhaps chum/berley.
 
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I tried it once with some sandeels that I had left over - I left the gun at home - I was just curious to see how the bass reacted - it was cool - they came really close and hung around for a while.
Generally I think that to do this as part of a regular spearing would be a pain. THat is for me at any rate - I know that some catch a green crab on the way out and crush it when they get to where they want to fish - others have taken old shafts with a net bag and tethered it to the bottom.
Personally I keep all the bits and swap them for crabs or lobsters from the local potter - win-win situation (... well not from the crab/lobsters point of view).
Ed
 
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I sometimes drop bait / mackeral next to holes to tempt the lobsters out.
 
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Hiya

Another trick worth trying is to freeze you fish entrails and any other old bait you have into 1-2kg blocks. This you put into a small mesh bag with a dive weight in it as well. Attach it to a float line with a small marker bouy. Drop a few in the area you dive in. The small fish get attracted to the chum, which in turn makes the bigger fish curious....

Only downside is that you don't want to chum in sharky waters. Small sharks also tend to rip your chum bag to shreds. Also, you now have even more stuff to carry with you down to the water!!!

Some guys even throw a couple of chum bags into a gulley at low tide. When the tide pushes, they then simply swim to their gulley, which by then is teeming with fish!!

Give it a try!!

Regards
miles
 
Reactions: Mr. X
Great ideas - thanks Miles :wave . I will need to scale down sizes for the UK - it would take me a long time to accumulate 2kg of fish guts (no big Tuna here any more ). Seems like that might attract in some crab and lobster too .

You're right about carrying gear in -- I am just about at my limit now, as I often have a fair walk from the car to the beach. I don't like a lot of clutter. However, for a holiday based around one or two beaches, this could work well. I was planning to try out a lobster/cray trap on holiday -- maybe place it on the way out & pick it up on the way back in.
 
You can make the burley on the run don't need to carry it from home just use what you can catch or find during the dive , even just scaling and or gutting your catch will bring in some fish if you have some plentifull non tasty fish -smaller baitfish , herring, mackeral, mullet etc you can spear and cut up or cut diamond patterns on the sides of then scrape off the flesh so small cubes of fish will drift down in the current to attract fish will work. In sharkey areas this will bring in the noahs so keep your eyes out for them, breaking up sea urchins or small crabs mussels attract some fish also-but check regulations in your area for legality of these activities.
Peter
 
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I have seen some guys use tuna / sardine cans as chum. They would take with them 2-3 cans (from the cheap type!) on their float, inside the suite, etc. When they need to chum they just open some holes in a can and drop it. The can sinks to the bottom creating a nice oily trail that attracts the fish. That could solve some carrying and /or storage problems I believe. But not sure if it would be as effective as fresh bait. Definitely not the tomato chili type! rofl

Gino
 
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Interesting. I had been thinking of sardines (26p a can at Lidls - taste good too - the ones I used came in sunflower oil) - it has already proven successful in attracting crayfish. I will not litter though:ban. The cans I get have ring pull tops -- which leave a sharp edge. Maybe I can just pierce the cans with an old style milk-can piercer or swiss army knife & recover the remains (either by diving or attached string).

Somebody on another thread recommended an old fisherman's trick of checking the stomach content of caught fish to see what they are currently eating. Might help in choosing some of the burley content.
 
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I've used chum a few times now, as an extension of my returning left-overs to the sea & lobster/crab potting. In general, I see more fish when I put a little something in the water - inc. a lobster moving about in day light (never seen that happen before).

Sometimes I just return heads & guts. Perhaps this accounts for the 4 foot long fish cruising one of my usual return spots at the end of last season? I bought a good quality meat grinder (Spong No. 10) from a local charity shop last year:

& used that to make some bait balls:
Ground fishheads & guts,
old shrimp bait,
very old ground bait (dried bread "crumbs"/powder from my local angling shop),
left over sardines in corn oil (now 36p a tin in Lidl ).​

Result: certainly brings the fry & minnows in and, twice, some large garfish. By the time I returned on one dive I encountered several mullet where I entered the water. Also the aforementioned lobster on another occasion.

It is a bit of a hassle/drag to make, carry and disperse, so I don't use it every time. It can cloud up the visibility. If frozen, it tends to float (might be good for mullet?), so now I usually store in the fridge the night before, however than means it will smell & make more mess.

I like the stocking idea described above; I've use plastic bags but not happy with it. Was interested to see HFW use onion bags for his Shirvey on River Cottage Gone Fishing. Rarely see these in the shops but I noticed several companies selling onion sacks for a reasonable price on eBay.co.uk this week: Onion sacks,bags, Home Garden items at low prices on eBay.co.uk

 
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We used to make up chum buckets by throwing the minced up stuff as you described plus shrimp shells & crab bits from the last feast into a 1 gallon plastic bucket from the cheap ice cream. Put a length of old nylon rope w/ small weight attached into the middle and freeze. Pop out just before use. Do not use the bucket for anything else - like iced tea. :t

Toss overboard and tie to cleat. As it melts there's a constant cloud of chum floating off & down. In Gulf of Mexico waters lasts about 1-2 hours.
 
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A giant, weighted, chum popsicle - like it
 
we do alot of sandballing here. it gets the chum to the bottom and brings everything out. we take a bag of sand on the boat and mix it about 50/50 with thawed chum, add water . sometimes we put oatmeal in them too,( for visual effect we then make little balls,(tennis ball size is good) and gently place them in the water and drop them. they go right to the bottom before they come apart. also the oatmeal (mixed in) creates a cloud in the water that looks like something getting eaten and really brings the groupers out of their holes, also mutton snapper love it. we like to take lobster heads and break them all up and put them in a metal chum box and send it down with the anchor. give it about ten minutes, and slip in quietly to see whats around. definately worth the effort in my waters.
 
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