You guys are going to have to excuse my ignorance on the Elwa chum thread. I've never caught one, but from the pictures I have seen, they look like they would be a blast to catch. Kind of built like a linebacker.

They have to serve some type of purpose in your system. We have sucker runs of mythical proportions in some of our rivers, but for the most part, they don't get dumped in piles on the bank to rot. Our guys toss garbage instead, so take your pick.

Suckers serve as a nice food source for the lake trout in the lake, which takes a little pressure of the smolt steelie brats. I would rather have those suckers getting gobbled up instead of a bunch of baby metal heads. I would think that something in the ocean would eat those chums, instead of a steelie.

Have had many slow mornings brightened up by banging suckers in my drift. Beats the heck out of drifting for hours on end, and hooking nothing. There are kids that will fish all day for suckers, and would go nuts for a chance to catch a "salmon" (chum). The "hoovers" aren't too bad smoked either, if the water is cold. The drones love them.

I'll strike a deal with you. Have the natives send me 10,000 mature chums, and I'll trade for 10,000 suckers. You'll be praying for squawfish. My $.02. Out!!!!!!

CHUM: a fish of the salmon species that the WDFW feels is cheap and easy to raise. It has a higher survival rate and low market value and table fare, and provides fishing opportunity. It's a shame that we didn't get a say in what type of salmon should be primarily raised out of our hatcheries.

Don't forget their roe is prized on the asian market.

Chum are great sport fish! You can go out and catch twenty in one day and the fight they put up is fantastic.

Ditto, I will never diss a chum Iron. Not only are their roe prized by the Asian market, but also by those of us that use those orange lightbulbs as bait. Hawk, chums are usually associated with negative feelings around these parts because of the frequent unsightly piles of bucks and stripped hens that are left around by tribal fishers that don't care what we think. Thing is, many of us are not much better. We know that the flesh quality is much higher for buck chums, yet we specifically target hens for their eggs, not for their eating. Their fighting quality is a benefit reaped from both sexes, though. Those that want to dispute me better have been standing there at Chico and Hoodsport with a bug rod or plug 100-percent of the time for metalheads and springers.

Well said, well said Hoh! Chums can brighten a day in a hurry even if you do release them, I take there fight over anything.



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Jim Bain
Always have Fun while Fishing!!!

You're going to laugh at this, but is there a certain time of the year, when chums are in the river systems pretty solid. Wouldn't mind spending the cash for a 3 or 4 day trip to fly out and catch a few and let them go. I don't need the eggs, just want to wrestle. It would probably be combat fishing, but that's all I have around here. Keep me posted. Maybe I can do it next winter.

Chum are not a prized catch on the salmon list, yet I would not compare it to a sucker. I have hooked some suck face on the Skagit/Sauk. Chum usually run late Oct. on through Jan. in some rivers.

pound for pound these fish are hard to beat just be a little carefull taking the hook out i've got a knarly scar from a satop river chum , dirty bastard haha lots of fun but man my arms sure ached...

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Tight Lines
<*)>><

Chums aren't as bad as everyone says they are. My fly fishin' buddy who lived in Alaska for a couple of years can't stand chums. He hates them just as much as snaggers, well maybe not that much...heh. They call them dog salmon because they are so abundant that they used to feed them to their dogs for food. I just wich we would have more coho and king hatcheries.

Elkman

Keep your lines in the water.

I would like to lend another voice of support to the lonely Chum. I spend most of my year chasing steelhead with a flyrod but I reserve November for Chum. Maybe it is the 20 fish days or the excitement of sight fishing to pods of 100+ fish but every year about September, I start getting anxious to chase the dogs. There are few things as cool as being towed around the salt in a floattube by a big ol' buck. I focus on the salt water the first half of the month and move to the rivers in the latter half. The day before Thanksgiving this year I had two bright bucks pick up my offering and peel 150 yds. of backing off my reel in a single screaming run before breaking off. Especially noteworthy since I was horsing them hard with a 9 weight Spey rod and was fishing 15# tippet. I would not trade those two fish for anything.

can't believe all the chum bashing going on. if chinook and coho keep on going down chums will be the only game in town, or the state for that fact. i will match lb for lb a chum against a king any day of the week and the chum will win 9 out of 10 times. those things are brutes and put you and your gear to task. besides hoodsport, what other hatcheries do they raise chums at? most of the hatcheries raise coho and kings right? the only drawback to chums is the lack of oil. they can at times be kind of dry. marinate them in teriyaki sauce for a half hour meat down then throw them on the bbq. good stuff maynard!

I live in the Everett area and my son and I always look foward to fishing the Chum run in the Wallace, every year they usually show up in November. We spend a lot of quality fishing time on them and have a real ball!. They can totally wear you out! and on a 8 or 9 wt. fly rod they are unbelivable. We have never kept one yet but we like to catch'em.
We went up to B.C. this year to the Veder in October and caught a bunch of them, along with Pink's, and White Kings, which are HUGE!

Hawk here are some specifics. First of all if you would probally be the first person ever to just fly out here to fish for just chums. LoL The best time would probally be the first two weeks of November for nubmers of fish. If you come earlier youll find brighter fish but you are playing with fire as in not getting anyfish.
The best bet would be the Skykomish and the Skagit. 10-15 fish days at this time of the year on chums are very common. Kwikies, plain ole drift gear and jig and float are going to catch you the most fish. The nice thing about the Skagit is that it is very condusive to the bug rod. You can have 10 fish days atleast on the Skagit fishing the fly. They can be an incredible fight on the bug rod and on the Skagit they have all the room in the world to run and run and run and horse you around. Another bonus to the Skagit would be the bald eagles. Eagles are everywhere at this time of the year gorging on the chummies and because of this you will not have the river to yourself because many rafting trips are run just for eagle watching. But both the Skagit and the Sky during midweek can be secluded but everyyear for and more people fish for chum and this year at Teds I showed by far more people to fish for them than the 2 years before combined.
Woa Ive blabbed on and on for a long time.
If you wanta to go with a guide for a day or two ask Robbo or give Joe Gallagher a try, hes a blast to fish with. www.washingtonsteelhead.com You might reconize the guys in the pics as Bryan and Kent from Teds but no me LoL
Tight Lines
Ryan S. Petzold

Anyone here ever fish Chico Creek for chum? On good days or shall I say good times you can hook a fish every cast. This year I was catching them on a 10'6" noodle rod with a float and fly or jig and 6 or 4 pound test. The best time to fish for them is on high tide around early to mid November.

I agree with these replies that the Chum is, pound for pound, the most voracious and vicious fish around here. They are great fun with hardware, but they take a fly so eagerly that I fish that way whenever I can see that they are present in large numbers. I have fished them pretty hard for the last ten years. The runs vary, but one thing has not -- there are more fishermen after them each year. I'm sure everybody's experience has differed somewhat, but here is a time table that I have found is generally about right for the Chum runs I have fished:

John's Creek, near Shelton, about October 1 -31;

Kennedy Creek, about mid-October to mid-November;

Hoodsport and Chico Creek, starting about November 1,through to about the end of November;

Potlach, just south of Hoodsport, begins to pick up about when Hoodsport begins to die off, is usually strong by November 20 and ends sometime during the first week of December;

Nisqually River -- these are the best quality chums I have found among the runs I have listed, these fish are dime bright, but the runs are not as consistent; some years, like this year, there is hardly a run at all -- from about the 2nd week in December and I have caught them in good run years, still silver bright, until the first week in January (all of this on the lower river, just upstream from the handicapped access).

I found this year, with the possible exception of John's Creek, that the runs were later and weaker than any year I have taken note of. Hoodsport, for instance, is always crowded, but in most years there are so many fish that, when the tide is not all the way up, the bank fishermen, and particulary the boats, could spread out a little because the fish were everywhere. This year, it seemed like there would only be one big pod of fish at a time and it would be located right in front of the hatchery gate and/or right off the shore across the creek, in front of the private property. Everybody would have to concentrate on this one pod of Chums to catch a fish. The boats were almost as packed together as the bank fishermen. In past years, at least the boats could spread out and follow different concentrations of fish.

Would any of us really fish for chums if there were coho or steelhead to catch? One comment on salmon (and apparently steelhead) returns this year; the word from the Hoodsport hatchery is that this was the smallest return of chums in the last seventeen years.

First I want to respond to Preston's reply by saying that YES, I would go out of my way to fish for Chum if Steelie's and Coho's are in the river, and HAVE. Lately with all the C & R restrictions, if I'm gonna have a fish fight, I want Mike Tyson not Soprano of the Vienna Boys Choir. And, last year should've been a bad year for most fish. If you remember, three years ago was a MAJOR flood year. Most rivers dramatically blew out of shape AS the fish were spawning. Since most fish run a three salt cycle around here would make good sense things were a bit slow. I know my Dad's cabin on the Nooch took over 3 ft of water in it and it's base is 3 1/3 feet off the ground. An occasional flood is ok, but constant high water doesn't help the egg layers make it to the gravel beds or keep their young ones down in the gravel since it's being shifted around.

Well, onto chum. I LOVE them. My Dad and I have PURPOSELY made our week long vacations on the Olympics to fish for them. I would rather fight 10-20 chums in a day then 100 other salmon (not that it would be possible by oneself). I have caught alot of chum, and have a picture of a 24 lb chum I've caught off the Nooch in full warrior colors. They make a fun fight and will test your tackle (and yourself) to the limits.

Someone said that they're a bit "dry". I would love to see the chum he caught. Of all the chums I've kept, they've been the oilest fish I've encountered (that I've kept mind you, there probably are much oiler fish out there). If I bake or smoke them I usually have to drain/scape off the excess fat coming to the surface. YES, chums make good eating if you cook them right and take them from the river in decent shape. If the fish isn't firm, it isn't fit I always say. You get from a fish what you take from it. But, I'd never compare a chum to a sucker. Sucker's are worthless and steal bait. You get a chum, and no matter what the outcome is, you've had an experience you'll never forget. It's nice to have the pics of the 50+ lb kings, but the fight no where compares to a 15lb chum on the line.

tight lines..............

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would I fish for chums if silvers and kings were present? yep, I sure would, and have a blast doing so, hook into a chum on a fly rod and stand up and enjoy a great fight,,

[This message has been edited by rainycity (edited 01-23-2000).]