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Originally Posted by Eskimo
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Nice article on your blog.
My personal opinion is that an angler's choice of bait is far less important than being in the right place (where the fish are) at the right time (when the fish are feeding).
A fish in a feeding mode will hit a wide variety of baits if it is placed in front of them, whether it is alive, dead, or a lure. A couple of years ago while perch and crappie fishing from my kayak, I had the experience of having a school of hybrid stripers 'blitzing' a school of herring near my kayak. All I had for bait was a coffee can of worms and some curly-tail jigs, but every time I dropped a bait or lure over the side of my kayak, it was instantly smashed. For a half-hour or so, I was bailing hybrids in water shallow enough to stand up in. At the boat ramp, other anglers didn't believe me when I told them I caught-and-released over a dozen big hybrids that evening until I showed them the pics on my phone.
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I agree. When they're feeding, they're feeding. But chumming is supposed to do two things--draw fish in by the smell, and get them feeding. However, since the lake has minimal current, it begs the question--how do fish smell that liver catfood at a distance? I don't mean they don't. I just wonder how, or even if. But if herring nearby get interested and swarm, hybrids can certainly sense that school by lateral line. And if nearby hybrids swarm, same. Also, they may smell herring, at least up close, which may be part of the reason why they're better than shiners, because of high Omega 3 fatty acids, oil they can scent. That is debatable, since scales protect the herring, but I'd be willing to bet scent is subtly involved.
