Using chum to attract perch?

I am curious if any of you old time perch jerkers on Lake Erie have irrefutable evidence if chumming brings in more perch than not chumming. :confused:

For anyone that's not familiar with what I'm talking about, I was told by an old timer 35+ years ago that the secret for always catching perch is to chum for them. He used canned tuna fish in a mesh bag with a weight to get it down to the bottom. He would get it down to the bottom and give it a couple of jerks to move the tuna fish out of the bag and into the water. When the perch would slow down he would give the bag a couple of jerks to bring them back into the area.

I was to cheap to pay for tuna so I would buy canned catfood, take it out of the can and into a mesh onion bag with some rocks to get it to the bottom. Get it down to the bottom and give it a jerk every now and then. In the past I either used the chum or didn't use it, I never tried to fishing for perch first and if they weren't biting then send down a bag of chum to see if it would bring in the perch. Now logically this would have been a good experiment to know if the chum brought in the perch, but like I said I never tried it this way. :rolleyes:

I've struggled to get my limit the past 2 perch trips so I was thinking about doing some chumming the next time out. I'm wondering if any of you fishing experts can tell me that you have proven that chumming brought in fish, or proven that it didn't do anything to bring in fish? The problem is the whole chumming process is a stinky mess that I prefer not doing unless I'm sure it really matters. :eek:

So what say you.....does it actually work or not?? :rolleyes:

Russ

I know this is not chumming, and I agree it can be messy. But fish are very nosey! 40+ yrs ago the trick was to take a white coffee cup on a string, drop it to the bottom and bang it a couple times, the white was an attractor and this used to work, no fish finders, or gps, just out where you thought you were in the right area. Most guys I know just use a light mushroom anchor or coffee can filled with cement to bang the bottom and they catch a lot of fish doing that. Fish stop biting, bang the bottom to stir mud and bring them back in. Some guys save their hardboiled egg shells and drop them to the bottom as they fall slowly, white and attract from a distance. Also frozen corn has worked well at times.

I don't know if they still do but Butch and Denny's bait store used to offer a perch caller made out of a pc of pipe a couple of washers and a solid rod. It works similar to the ebijack method described in his post.

Still another method used by the Oldtimers in the fifties was to take a 1 gallon clear glass water/cider jug and place a few live minnows in it with clear clean water and let it to the bottom, they claimed that it teased the perch into a feeding frenzy and kept them from wandering off. Does this work? I have no idea! But it does sound feasible. I remember one old gentleman who used jugs off both back corners of his boat.

Perch caller for sure works everytime, all kinds of version, I seed
the boat with white rice works when perching slow down.
Wayne Reel Sport team

Anyone got any pics of these so called "perch attractors"

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Originally Posted by Firetiger

Anyone got any pics of these so called "perch attractors"

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Here is a link to one! The hook at the top is attached to a solid rod that slides up and down inside the outer tube and it is long enough to hit the bottom of the outer tube which has been closed with a plate welded to the bottom, the hook is also attached to the line up to the boat. The motion of the boat moves the rod up and down creating a tapping noise which supposedly attracts the perch.

http://www.irelantrucking.com/index-6.html

I had a guy tell me that perch are so curious he would just start and idol his motor for a while and he would be on them in no time.

fish based cat food. Pull top and toss like a grenade. Stand back

I sometimes start the engine and let it run. And I think Wayne is correct seeding the water with white rice will help keep them under your boat. I use rice as well, never tried cat food. I have also used a small mushroom anchor and let the waves bounce it on the bottom to stir it up.

I am sure chumming works on Saturdays trip with skipper9 I feed them minnows all day instead of hooking them and everyone else kept pulling them big ones in. LOL

Wouldn't it be easier to just move to another spot? I use the 10 minute rule, no fish, move the boat.

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Originally Posted by Walleye_Rick

Wouldn't it be easier to just move to another spot? I use the 10 minute rule, no fish, move the boat.

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If I don't catch a fish in 10 minutes I move as well. But sometimes after you find them you can get the perch bite fired up and get up and down action. :)

I researched more about fish biology and was amazed by this paragraph from the Audubon Field Guide to Fishes; Biology of Fishes section, page 25.

“A conspicuous landmark on the body of most ray-finned fishes is the lateral line, typically a tubular canal that runs along the length of the fish at mid-side just beneath the scales and usually ends at the caudal fin base or extends to the tip of the tail. Branch tubes reach the surface through the scales, where they open to the outside through small pores. Each pore leads into a canal that contains sensory nerve endings; the sensory structures record vibrations, helping the fish avoid obstacles and locate prey. These specialized pores or pored scales may form a visible lateral line. (A lateral line is considered to be complete when it runs uninterrupted from the opercle to the caudal fin base and incomplete when it does not reach the caudal fin base.) Some species do not have a visible lateral line on the body, while a few have several lateral lines. The position of the lateral line(s) on the fish’s body and the number and size of the scales in the lateral line are often important identification clues. In addition, some species have sensory pores on the head, the overall pattern of which can also be useful in identification”.

After taking all the information that I had gathered, I began to try different things some work and some don't.

Just sayin... :)

Tried the cat food trick today, 6 catfish 1 dogfish I guess the dog fish was chasing the cats.

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Originally Posted by Firetiger

Anyone got any pics of these so called "perch attractors"

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Here is a picture of a home made perch caller.

I know rice works. Not 100% must it does work.

I was perching one day earlier this year with no success, our last stop we fished for about 1 hour and had 3 perch, we were tired of moving and just stayed there after about another 30 minutes it was up and down, no motor running, no chumming, nothing stirring up the bottom. we had our 60 fish in a hurry go figure. I'm not saying that stuff doesn't work, maybe the fish just turned on it was around 7pm.

I have been using 10 heavy stainless steel washers (about 1.5 inches) tied to 20lb test every 3 inches or so and dropped to the bottom for years.
I tie them to the closest cleat. When the boat moves up and down from the waves, they make a metalic clicking noise as they hit the bottom.

I figured a massive clank from the big "perch callers" was too much for the fish when it got close.

Give it a try.

PS. it is cheap.... :)

I remember a certain boat that posts on here from time to time used a red block as an attractant. I don't know if it helped but it was one of those big blocks you use for building and it was painted red with a rope tied around it. It was a lot harder to pull that up then the anchor was and I think the captain of the boat use to get a good laugh out of watching me bring it up.

I thought about using a more classic chum like they would use in Europe which would consist of fresh bread flake (pulverized in a food processor) with some pulverized shiners in it left over from a trip. My concern is the current at the bottom of the lake could disperse the chum over a fairly large are making it useless to me. I still want to try it but have reservations about putting shiners in my food processor, the shiner flavored bread particles should get whatever is down there feeding but with my luck it would be a fish ohio goby.

I used to know an old timer who has been gone for along time. He owned his own bakery, so he used alot of eggs for baking. He always keep the shells during fishing season and would crush them up and use them for an attractant by throwing them in the the water. Making it look like a school of shiners where he was fishing. He swore that was his trick to many limits of perch.

My Dad used to use crushed clam shells when things got slow.