Getting chummy
The art of befriending kings with hors d’oeuvres
BEAUFORT, S.C. – Chumming has long been an art form in its own right in kingfish tournaments, and the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour event taking place this week is no exception.
The idea, of course, is simple. When kingfish are inactive, kingfish teams take to tempting them to the surface with slimy, oily hors d’oeuvres of their own creation.
As with anything in fishing, though, opinions about where, when, why and how to chum run the gamut from not chumming at all to obliterating pogies in a fish grinder all day to create a long, odiferous line of fish parts.
“One thing that’s important to understand about chumming is that it’s not all about bringing fish to the surface,” explained Captain John Parks of Team Raymarine-Early Riser. “It’s also about masking the odors that come off your boat.
“Kingfish have extremely sensitive senses of smell. If they catch a whiff of 
outboard exhaust or detergent used to clean boats, they’ll get turned off. So we usually drip a little menhaden oil around the boat just to hide any detergents or cleaners that may be flushing off our boat.”
“That’s true,” said Johnny Hudson of Team Jackpot. “Non-natural smells coming off your boat can turn kingfish off in hurry. It’s best not to take any chances.”
Hudson provides Team Jackpot with frozen blocks of chum featuring his homemade concoction: a lethal mix of ground pogies, cat food and menhaden oil – yummy!
“We put a block of frozen chum into a net bag and hang it off the stern,” Hudson said. “We probably go through five or six blocks a day.”
But too much of a good thing can be bad.
“Sometimes when you get around too many boats and everyone is chumming, it creates a huge oil slick that can cover several acres – it looks like an oil spill,” Hudson said. “And that can attract sharks and barracudas into the area.”
The problem with sharks and barracudas in a kingfish area is that these predators have no problem biting a hooked tournament-winning kingfish in half before it can be gaffed. In fact, several teams reported losing nice kingfish to sharks on Thursday.
“It happens so fast, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Hudson described. “One second you’re fighting a giant king, and in a flash, your rod goes limp and you reel in half of a kingfish.
“You definitely don’t want to overdo it,” he added. “You want just enough chum to get a king’s attention, but not so much that every predator in the Atlantic is following your boat.”
Day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour resumed at 6:30 this morning. The weigh-in will begin at 4 o’clock this afternoon at Downtown Marina in Beaufort, S.C.
This afternoon, the top-five cut will be made to include the teams weighing in the heaviest kingfish over the last two days. Currently, Team Hard Way holds the lead with a kingfish weighing 44 pounds, 15 ounces.
Friday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:44 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 78 degrees
Expected high temperature: 96 degrees
Seas: 2-3 feet
Wind: W at 5-10 mph
Day’s outlook: hot, humid