Passion for Fishing: Whether you use rubby dubby or chum, your trip won't be ho-hum

"Rubby what?"

Wait, I can explain! I picked up the term from one of my fanatical fishing customers from the United Kingdom. Over there, that's their name for anything deemed a fish attractant. It's better known as chum in these parts.

Deployment of chum in almost all offshore and some backwater locations can make a major difference in your fishing action and the success of your trip.

Chum comes in a multitude of forms. We'll concentrate on a few of the more popular and effective types used around these parts.

Let's say we're in the general area of a "bait holder" -- a sunken barge, for example, or a wreck or a series of artificial reefs. Spanish mackerel are our target -- and kingfish or a nice-size blacktip shark would be our bonus. In the process of anchoring, we have begun to lace the water with liquid chum, foul-smelling fish oil in big plastic bottles that we hope won't splash back on us.

We've already determined that the current and wind are in alignment. We want the chum to leach out in the full water column behind our baits. Jigs or freelined shrimp are worked for the mackerel, and we've deployed a couple of frisky live baits for the bigger guys.

We see the chum oil making a slick on the water surface, and we add more just to keep an uninterrupted attractant superhighway to our baits.

We see them on the Fishfinder first. Big marks show from the top to bottom of the water column. Mackerel are streaking for the bait. The chum has produced nearly immediate heavy action. We're into all we can handle. We keep the slick going and keep a watch on the big rods.

So, we've proved to ourselves again that good old liquid rubby dubby can draw our targeted pelagic and hold them in our target zone. But how about bottom fish -- those ever-popular snapper and grouper that are such high-profile dinner targets?

Will our chum work for them?

Bottom fish are different.

They are residents, at least for the time being, on the hunk of bottom or rubble that we've just anchored over.

So we don't have to bring 'em from far and wide. We just have to get 'em worked up over our bait.

It's nice big mangrove or lane snapper we're after today.

So we hang a frozen block of chum nicely encased in a mesh bag over the stern.

Again we made sure that the chum and the bait are going in the same water current direction. That's very important. If we had a tough wind and weak current counteracting one another, the boat would be sitting backward and the chum would go one way and the bait another.

We bounce the chum bag and a create a nice stream of fish bits dropping down in the current. It shouldn't be long before we get those slamming snapper hits. But sometimes snapper are shy. They'll avoid our shrimp or they'll be spooked by the line or leader, especially in clear water.

If that happens to you, try this: Put a smaller hook, maybe a No. 6, directly on your line. No leader. And bait it with a small piece out of the chum block. If they're nailing the chum, what do you think they'll do to the one with your hook in it?

Let's switch gears to big fish, like grouper, which stay closer to their caves right on the bottom. Can we improve their interest level with chum?

You betcha. If the anchorage is steady, cut up some cigar minnows and toss small chunks in the same general area of the bottom. Or even better, fill up a small paper bag with the chunks, add a weight, tie on a line and lower it to the bottom quickly. Once there is a jerk on the line, the bag will break and the chunks will disperse to the same spot.

Voil. Hang on for the grouper strikes.

And finally to the backwater areas. Save those fresh dead shrimp from yesterday and pay them out a few at a time in the current or around the mangrove roots you are working. It usually works wonders -- especially when the bites are waning or stopped.

Bottom line: Chum works.

Sure, the Brits have a strange name for the concoctions that attract fish, but who cares?

Whether rubby dubby or chum, it will help spell success for your fishing trip.

Capt. Bill Walsh owns an established Marco Island charter fishing business and holds a current U.S. Coast Guard license. Send comments or questions to dawnpatrolcharters@compuserve.com.