Chummin and a Pluggin

By: Todd McCollister

One of the most fun ways to fish an area where you know fish are located is to try chum pluggin. Chum pluggin is exactly what it sounds like. It requires some live shad not necessarily frisky shad, and a Gizz4 made by Smack Tackle. These plugs look just like a shad.

After locating some fish in a given area, whether its a flat or a creek mouth or even open water begin circling that area with some live bait and every few minutes take a couple shad from the live well and stun them and toss them into the water. If fish are being marked too deep this may not work, however if fish are being marked at 20ft. or less try chumming a few unharmed shad and they will often go for deeper water causing the fish to move shallower. with a few stunned shad making a spectacle out of themselves on the surface striper and hybrids will often come clear to the surface to chow down on these tasty morsels. At this point I need say little more... You have just created that moment that all striper and bass fisherman love to see. Surface action!! cast just past the black hole that was left as a big striper inhaled an easy meal and begin the retrieve. Here is where I love the Gizz4's action. Because it has an open weight chamber that the weight rests in while being retrieved a few strong whips of the rod and that weight begins to pop around inside the body helping create all kinds of erratic action this will often cause a strike when a neutral or slow retrieve doesn't seem to work. I have been known to file a bill down almost half way and get super shallow retrieve I hold my rod tip up high and reel fast and the lure will probably only dive a foot deep. I use an eight foot six inch rod with some back bone and I have been able to get the lure to leave a wake it would run so shallow. Shy shallow stripers often won't come clear to the surface but this kind of action tends to bring them out of their shell.

So the next time your live baiting take a couple gizz4's along and try some chum pluggin!!!