Chumming legal??

[dmpalm]

I have a friend that says when it gets slow he cuts up frozen shiners and throws them down the hole as chum. He says if you have a little piece of paper from the bait store where you got them it is legal.

My understanding is that chumming is not legal in MN...does anyone know the law on this? Are the rules different on LOW?

[maxpower117]

Chumming is not legal on mn waters.

[Walleyehooker]

I dont chum but the tails and dead minnows always seem to fall down the hole for some reason.

[fiskyknut]

Illegal as per the regs. I have also spoke with a couple local co's regarding this and have been told a guy could indeed be ticketed if caught.

[DrJuice1980]

Glitter, its a slower fall and you wont have a big pile of dead minnows below your bait. When you think about it, how natural is that? Unless you are only trying for pout.

[Burb Slayer]

I curious to what type of evidence would be needed to prove that an individual had been chumming, has anyone out there been zapped by the CO for this practice? Personally I tend to use portions of the minnow when tipping my lure. The rest of that minnow finds its way into the food chain one way or another. comment above was a joke obviously but seriously, we are using them for bait, if the minnows are dead, what are we doing wrong besides luring in the neighbors burbot.

P.S. Gold fish make great chum.

[northerndave]

I don't always eat a big handful of dead minnows......

But when I do... I throw up.

In the hole....

LOL!!

[DrJuice1980]

I am very anti chumming, I may be wrong here but I think it makes a natural setting unnatural with a pile of dead minnows below your bait. The only time I could see it working is if you were trying to lure in suspended crappies. That is why I use glitter or taking the dead shinners and using my thumbnail to de-scale them in the hole. Try it once and watch the scales shine as they sllloooowwwlllyyy fall. That way the only thing that is on the bottom are scales, not dead minnows. Theres no species of fish in MN thats going to leave a pile of cut up minnows on the bottom.

[vman11]

So it's cool to throw artificial glitter down the hole, but not natural minnow parts?

Every time I pinch the tail off my jigging fat head I am aiming it at the hole. Sometimes it hits the water and makes its way to the bottom, sometimes it hits the edge of the hole and stays on the ice.

Maybe "chumming" is illegal, but I think we're spliiting hairs on throwing small minnow parts down the hole in comparison to jiging a scent bag full of frozen fish parts.

[DrJuice1980]

Berkley makes a plastic tube, crayfish, and nymph that are in jars with glitter. I don't take a crafting kit out on the ice with me. I only wrote unnatural because of a stock pile of minnow parts on the bottom below your hook doesn't seem like a natural sight. Ever seen any mn fish species bite minnows in half and leave them? The times I've seen them feed they eat the whole thing and you can see the minnows scales scatter in the water and it looks like glitter.

[UKCM]

What looks natural and what works are two different things. I am pretty sure there are not a bunch of minnow heads floating under the ice, but they sure seem to work when attached to a jigging spoon. Saltwater fisherman chum all the time and it obviously works for them. Of course that does not make it legal here.

The'not natural' logic is a bit flawed. It does seem feasible that

minnow parts would give off scent which could attract fish.

[DrJuice1980]

I've fished with guys that will throw 10 plus minnows down at a time. I was only trying to offer insight and the glitter deal has worked for me so just a tip if you want to try it. There is a huge difference between chumming in the ocean and chumming while youre sitting on your bucket staring down a hole. First is your hole isn't moving, second is unless your ice fishing on a river there is no current to carry the chums scent trail and the chum will settle on the bottom directly below you.

[Boar]

Oh contrar monfair, LOW has current for sure, on a year like this not near as much but when the rainy river has flow at an average year the river will push water an create current flow all along the south shore where it circulates against the west side of the lake an an back north east again. certainly not noticable to one in a boat or swiming but on an averge year of rainfall an current flow from the rainy your bobber will be pushed to the west side of the hole most days.

[oboyoboyoboy]

I've had a few guys "chum" off the back of my boat in the summer. Seems to usually happen after a long night in the bar and trying to fish before noon on a rough day. I haven't noticed that it has helped attract fish, but I admit I probably wasn't factoring in the current when trying to position the rapalas in the chum cloud.