Using chum to attract perch?

[Russ Hunsaker]

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.

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.

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.

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

Russ

[ebijack]

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.

[wakina]

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.

[wayne johnson]

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

[Firetiger]

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

[wakina]

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

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

[IBFISHN]

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.

[BobR]

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

[Fishin Crazy]

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.

[branhamautomotive]

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