# Chum Pile ?



## atrkyhntr (May 31, 2004)

Was wondering if they should be spread out or "piled" as close to possible?
THANKS in advance!!
Clyde

I spread mine about 10-15 yards or more across and was just thinking maybe there is a better way


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## tpet96 (Apr 6, 2004)

Everyone has their own say on the subject. Again, going back to Euro techniques (they pretty much have standardized carp fishing, so we relate to them even though our carp are pretty much "clueless" since they are not pressured what so ever).......they prefer to keep all of their freebies or "chum" within a 5' diameter of their intended hookbait placement. This is one of the reasons they will use a marker float. They can then chum right on that float, and place their hookbaits in that "circle" if they choose.


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## tpet96 (Apr 6, 2004)

Forgot to add.....most of the time I keep my chum "tight" as possible to the marker. You can make a marker if you wish to do this......just get one of those catfishing floats from Walmart (the big stick type...dosn't have to be the real big one......and feed it on your line, then tie a 2 oz bass casting sinker to the end of your line. Cast it out, reel in so the "float" is upright, and BAM........you have a marker


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## GMR_Guy (Apr 10, 2004)

I wrestle with this question. One part of me thinks that confining the chum to a small area make it easier to catch the carp when they come around. But then I worry that this makes it easy fro the carp to vacuum up all of my chum in a short time, thus requiring more chum. Tonight I'll be doing some carping and I think I'll put imy chum in a roughly 10' x 30 ' area, with the logic being that it takes longer for the carp to get rid of all of it and it allows room for more carp. Regardless of how I'll be chumming, I've learned the great benefit of chumming at least every half hour once the fish are in the area. Once they are there, keep them there.


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## tpet96 (Apr 6, 2004)

That brings up another point. When I catch a fish, I automatically "spod" out 5 spod fulls more of chum to the "marked" area. Each fish. Some people will launch out 20 additional boilies as well if they are fishing boilies. Just some things to think about. There really isn't a wrong or right way to do it.


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## atrkyhntr (May 31, 2004)

hmmnmnmn ...
I have always noticed how carp don't take to noise, boats or even people walking on shore... seems their a spookey sort... I've noticed my hits don't come as fast after I chum or re-chum an area as they do if I simply just cast to the same area...
Yesterday I took my son to Ladue twice... once early afternnon where we caught 7-10 carp in an hr and 1/2 from a chummed area we chummed the evening before... 
We came back later about 7pm and chummed before fishing but did not catch a carp till around 7:45... Then we caught another 5-6 before dark and only one hook-up after dark (homemade boilie) which pulled the hook after a long screaming run  
I was just thinking maybe my chumming had scared off the fish? Or did it?


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## tpet96 (Apr 6, 2004)

Sometimes it will.......especially if you don't fish it. But they don't stay along forever, especially if they had a food source there to come back to. Actually, some people will have "pet" carp......they will learn the sound of the spod means "food". They will actually swarm to the waters. Same as areas like zoos and parks. All you have to do is walk by waters edge, and the carp are schooled in front of you waiting for food to be handed to them. They learn after time


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## TimJC (Apr 6, 2004)

atrkyhntr said:


> hmmnmnmn ...
> I have always noticed how carp don't take to noise, boats or even people walking on shore... seems their a spookey sort...


It all depends on the body of water. In general noise is a bad thing as the lateral line of the fish can sense minute vibrations. However, in high traffic areas the carp will become desensitized to the noise and, as Shawn said, carp aren't heavily targeted. Just yesterday I saw Ak haul in 3 channels and 2 carp (the second took off while the first was still on the bank) all while the grass was being cut around us. The fish definitely new people were around and were not spoked at all. In fact it is entirely possible that certain frequencies could induce feeding, so maybe we need to take lawnmowers with us on the bank


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## crappielooker (Apr 5, 2004)

i used to have some carp i considered my pets..i am believing that they learned the sound of my corn hitting the water...and key in on it...they would automatically take the bait while its being settle down..waay before i even put the rod on the pod..
on the spooking note, from my experience(which ain't much, since i started last year), the fish learns to adapt to their surrounding.. they are used to being bother by the boats, jetskis, whatever..it don't seems to matter..at least to me....
and the chum pile i keep are not considering a pile anymore..i will now refer to mine as "chum mountain"..  
anyone hungry for some grains??


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## atrkyhntr (May 31, 2004)

Any boat traffic where I fish is electric only and would be headed to a very small cove so I am guessing that noise is a no no...  

I'll hit it hard this weekend then its off to Pymatuning for 4 days with the kids


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## mnfisherman (Jul 19, 2004)

I've heard that chumming an area about the size of a tennis court is a good idea because the fish keep crusing around the area eating and when a fish is hooked the others won't be scared since the fish will be spread out around the chummed area.


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## tpet96 (Apr 6, 2004)

MN,

Most lakes that are fished around here the carp don't spook. I haven't found one yet anyways. If you were fishing ultra clear water where you can see the bottom in 40' of water, that would be a different story. Ask Carpless on here how I do my baiting campaigns. He's seen them in action a few times, and he's seen the results  Only problem I see with scattering your chum is not having the fish "key" in on your freebies. If you place a pile in a concentrated space, and cast your hookbaits out say 5-10' from that pile, the fish will pick up those baits first on their way "in" to the pile.


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## Carpless (Apr 12, 2004)

I'm not too concerned about the noise of my ground bait hitting the water. While carp can be very spooky at times, at others they are only focused on hoovering the bottom and ignore all else. Once I was spodding more bait in and had a run. Heard from quite a few people that that isn't all that rare.


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