Smelt for chumming?

[Reel Creel]

Has anybody tryed using smelt for chumming charlie the tuna? and if so was it worth the trouble? Or maybe a Smelt/Herring mix. I think this could be good. . . What are your thoughts?

[corrirod]

I'm surprised nobody responded to this thread.

Good question though. I can't remember if smelt were on the approved list of chum items. I'll have to go back and look that up.

[ 02-17-2004, 09:41 PM: Message edited by: corrirod ]

[Born to be Wild]

Rich Allyn (former owner of Depoe Bay Tradeswinds) and others told me years ago that smelt didn't work on ocean fish.
Folks brought them dowm but to no avail.

Herring on the other hand works, but artificials seem to work as goog or better.

Danod

[ 02-17-2004, 10:04 PM: Message edited by: Born to be Wild ]

[wak'm&stak'm]

Over the years, I have used them for bottom fish and salmon fishing. I never saw anything different than herring to be honest. One year on the Misty we fished light rods while halibut fishing. We limited the boat on silvers and we only had smelt. These were all Or- aqua fish inside the pile, ( according to the tags) but they bit smelt.

If you ever saw a shrimper picking smelt, you have no question that they are part of the food chain. I have seen them a foot thick on the deck....and THESE ARE RIVER SMELT...I have cleaned enough of them. they are more silver at that time.

[Reel Creel]

Thanks for the reply guys, I dont intend to use them for bait on the line. But cut and smash them into little pieces and try to keep the tuna to stick around the boat and maybe leave a nice trail of bits and pieces to the back of the boat while trolling.

[edsr]

Hey RC - They use an electric grinder to make a chum slick for several species on the east coast, but I think one of the old manual type sausage grinders would work just fine. Mount it close to the side or transom and crank away whenever the slick dissipates. A garage sale deal - don't use your wife's. Smelt have plenty of oil in them and would work great.
edsr