Non-Fly River chum techniques?

[Kado]

A buddy and I hit a local river in a first attempt to hook into some chum. We used various green, black, pink etc flies...most with trailing hooks. We were swinging using doublehand rods....7wts.
I had no idea what to do so basically fished the same way I would for steelhead. I first fished deep, then middle, then finally went light, all with no luck. I tried small strips......nothing.
We saw them EVERYWHERE! They damn near swam between our legs....totally ignoring both us and our flies.
Still....AWESOME day. Water level was perfect, light mist in the morning and flocks of geese flying overhead.....perfect! (Other than not getting a single grab after six hours of wading.
Any advice is welcome. Also I was thinking of bringing a single hand rod next time instead.....What weight rod? I was a little worried my 7 weight doublehander wasn't enough as several of the chum swimming by were fairly large and that's the heaviest spey rod I have. I've got ALL the singlehand weights though : ).
Thanks,
Mark

 

[Rob Allen]

I've only caught them while coho fishing.. my only advice is to be careful stripping flies through schooled chums. They are easy to foul hook in such situations.

 

[Kado]

I've only caught them while coho fishing.. my only advice is to be careful stripping flies through schooled chums. They are easy to foul hook in such situations.

So assuming you were using an 8wt singlehand and that was enough rod?

 

[Shad]

A 7 or 8-wt. Does it, especially if you're hooking them in the mouth (to Rob's point, they don't do much to get out of the way when you run something through them, so they are easy to snag, and when snagged, they are absolute gear busters, so even a 9-wt. Might feel under-powered).

Swinging works, but sink tips are kind of prone to snagging with chums, and a jigging fly, on a long-ish leader, fished on a floating line works better, in my experience. Most of the time, chums are kind of lousy biters, but when they get triggered, they can provide good action. I don't ever set out to fish for them, but when they break up a slow day of coho fishing, they're a welcome surprise. I don't ever feel the need to catch lots of them; gets too much like work after a couple....

 

[Matt B]

I read from a few on this group over the years how bobber fly fishing for chums can work, so last year I tried it. 8 weight single hand rod. Just a super simple setup with a big thingamabobber close to the end of the floating line and about an 8 foot leader. One real heavy fly. Adjust depth as needed. It worked amazingly well. I went home and tied a bunch of flies to do more but didn’t end up going back. I’ll see if I can find the flies and/or a picture. They were basically jigs.

 

[Matt B]

Correction—some are actually jigs. Designed to get down fast under a bobber and stay there.

 

[Rob Allen]

So assuming you were using an 8wt singlehand and that was enough rod?

Yes 9 would be better but 8 is ok

 

[Pink Nighty]

I like chasing chums in side channels with the single hand rod, I find landing them much easier when they dont have a current to fight you with. Never been undergunned with an 8 in that situation.

In the current is another deal entirely. I have had my fucking 8wt switch stolen from me by a fat chum in heavy current.

 

[Salmo_g]

Hooking and landing a chum salmon is its own punishment. Hooking a chum on purpose gets you one demerit. Landing said chum earns you an additional demerit. Sorry, but was mentored and earned my stream fishing credentials on the NF Stilly, where the targeting of salmon, any species, was illegal for most of modern eternity. Consequently I've tried to avoid hooking pink and chum salmon. Haven't always been successful. Often it's difficult to keep them off any color marabou streamer, other than to find a pool that has no chum salmon in it. Once while coho fishing on the Satsop River I ran into a co-worker who kinda' complained that he couldn't hook a chum salmon. I was unable to explain that it was irrational to try to hook chum salmon during a perfectly good coho run, but alas . . . I saw a hook and a piece of chartreuse green yarn on the ground that someone had dropped or lost. I picked them up, cut off the fly I had on and tied on the hook and yarn. Made one cast into the current where chum salmon were migrating and hooked one. One demerit, so I broke it off to avoid a second. I pointed out to my co-worker that hooking chum salmon is generally not a problem. Not hooking them is the more typical problem.

 

[Kado]

Hooking and landing a chum salmon is its own punishment. Hooking a chum on purpose gets you one demerit. Landing said chum earns you an additional demerit. Sorry, but was mentored and earned my stream fishing credentials on the NF Stilly, where the targeting of salmon, any species, was illegal for most of modern eternity. Consequently I've tried to avoid hooking pink and chum salmon. Haven't always been successful. Often it's difficult to keep them off any color marabou streamer, other than to find a pool that has no chum salmon in it. Once while coho fishing on the Satsop River I ran into a co-worker who kinda' complained that he couldn't hook a chum salmon. I was unable to explain that it was irrational to try to hook chum salmon during a perfectly good coho run, but alas . . . I saw a hook and a piece of chartreuse green yarn on the ground that someone had dropped or lost. I picked them up, cut off the fly I had on and tied on the hook and yarn. Made one cast into the current where chum salmon were migrating and hooked one. One demerit, so I broke it off to avoid a second. I pointed out to my co-worker that hooking chum salmon is generally not a problem. Not hooking them is the more typical problem.

I couldn't even earn a demerit. When stalking them in the salt on my kayak...sure is fun. Pinks are too! The chum salmon I've run into, whether in the salt or on the river have been far less aggressive than the coho.

 

[Kado]

View attachment 86982

Correction—some are actually jigs. Designed to get down fast under a bobber and stay there.

View attachment 86984

Thanks so much for the fly pics. There's a river within reasonable driving distance where I can currently go after coho, chum, and cutthroat.....p and j sandwich, bag of chips, and a couple beers makes for a great day!

 

[Stonedfish]

You can get them on the swing, but fishing softer water with an indicator and a pattern tied on a jig hook is more effective in my opinion. Basically imitating gear guys fishing a bobber and jig, which is highly effective.
Maybe not as much fun as swinging, but the indicator will go down… a lot when it is on.
SF

 

[speedbird]

Bobber with a 3/8oz sinker and a 1/4oz pink and purple Marabou jig on soft water with fish rolling, shortish leader 12-18" is what I use. You can tip it with shrimp (Any works) but if they are thick you won't need it!

I love chum, only time I ever got bored of catching salmon is last Thanksgiving when I caught too many of them!

 

[JLT]

With so few steelhead opportunities I enjoy swinging for chum. How else am I going to get any practice playing larger fish in all types of moving water these days?

I’ve tried all kinds of flies big and small, but a good old weighted black or purple egg sucking leech on a sink tip has been very effective.

 

[Jagosh]

A buddy and I hit a local river in a first attempt to hook into some chum. We used various green, black, pink etc flies...most with trailing hooks. We were swinging using doublehand rods....7wts.
I had no idea what to do so basically fished the same way I would for steelhead. I first fished deep, then middle, then finally went light, all with no luck. I tried small strips......nothing.
We saw them EVERYWHERE! They damn near swam between our legs....totally ignoring both us and our flies.
Still....AWESOME day. Water level was perfect, light mist in the morning and flocks of geese flying overhead.....perfect! (Other than not getting a single grab after six hours of wading.
Any advice is welcome. Also I was thinking of bringing a single hand rod next time instead.....What weight rod? I was a little worried my 7 weight doublehander wasn't enough as several of the chum swimming by were fairly large and that's the heaviest spey rod I have. I've got ALL the singlehand weights though : ).
Thanks,
Mark

Sir, this is the Dirtbag forum, take that tweed jacket elsewhere!!!

Fun stuff. So when swinging, is it drifting down directly below you? It’s been said ad naseum by us folks that you are standing where the fish are, in the travel lane, but if swinging means it’s drifting down into said lane I don’t see how you wouldn’t have it in their face. I believe you can use rod to adjust depth?

I use pink and white exclusively with a bit of shrimp scent on them, it’s been quite deadly for a few years for me but was a learning curve under a float of course.

Funny, it was watching a bunch of gents swinging for the dogs that did pique my interest in such pursuits.

I landed 8, they hooked none but got excited on a rock take. However, they were full of joy and laughter and that is something to respect.

 

[Josh]

they are absolute gear busters

My former Sage can attest to this.

 

[Kado]

Sir, this is the Dirtbag forum, take that tweed jacket elsewhere!!!

Fun stuff. So when swinging, is it drifting down directly below you? It’s been said ad naseum by us folks that you are standing where the fish are, in the travel lane, but if swinging means it’s drifting down into said lane I don’t see how you wouldn’t have it in their face. I believe you can use rod to adjust depth?

I use pink and white exclusively with a bit of shrimp scent on them, it’s been quite deadly for a few years for me but was a learning curve under a float of course.

Funny, it was watching a bunch of gents swinging for the dogs that did pique my interest in such pursuits.

I landed 8, they hooked none but got excited on a rock take. However, they were full of joy and laughter and that is something to respect.

What's good enough for gear is good enough for me!
Once I knew where the 'lane' was, I moved off and attempted to get my fly down deep to them....no joy.
I have been known to get a little excited with a well timed snag.
I didn't have any jig flies with me....that will be corrected my next time out.

 

[Pink Nighty]

When swinging for all salmon I've had my best luck pumping, stripping through the swing, giving it some slack between each strip. 1 ft in, 6 in out and kick the rod tip down. Jiggy jiggy

 

[gwb72tii]

Fishing for chum's with a chartreuse fly in a local stream, as the tide comes in, with an old Fenwick 7wt, is a blast. My young son (at the time) landed a 10lb striped hook beaked fish that was a locomotive at the end of his line. All hook and release, but IMHO a more fun fish to catch than coho's.

 

[Dustin Chromers]

Use a floater or light tip. They can be responsive to very small flies. Like bright crazy Charlie's. This is good as the hook rides up and is less prone to snag schooled fish. Bounce the fly throughout the swing and strip in calm water. You may also seeing large flashy flies and make a slow slow cross current swing. You are plug fishing with a fly rod basically. This is normally done with a tip. Bouncing the fly will likely help here as well. These same tactics can be applied to coho with success as well. Favourite colours are pink, purple, and black with blue in that order.