Sand-ball chum is a mix of sand and thawed chum kneaded to a peanut-butter consistency, formed into balls that sink and disintegrate to chum the entire water column down to the bottom. In this How 2 Tuesday I answer an email about making the sand-ball mix used in offshore fishing. Instead of just chumming the surface, you pack sand and softened chum into a ball that sinks past the small snappers and jacks and breaks apart all the way to the bottom, leaving a smoke trail of chum through the whole column. You can even bury a live bait inside to sneak it past the pickers. It is deadly on mutton and gray snappers.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Combine play or beach sand with chum that has thawed until it is soft, then knead them together by hand in a five-gallon bucket to a peanut-butter consistency. Start with the bucket about a quarter full of sand, pour the thawed chum on top, and work it with your hand. If it is too thin add sand, if it is too thick add a little chum or water, then form balls and drop them gently so they sink and disintegrate toward the bottom.
Because frozen chum will not mix with sand, it is like trying to blend a brick with sand and just will not work. Leave a box of chum out the night before so it softens, ideally inside a plastic bag in a hatch or the bilge so any melt does not leave fish chunks behind. Just do not forget about it overnight, or it will really stink, which you do not want on your boat.
Peanut butter. As Steve Roger puts it, it looks like peanut butter but does not taste like it, with that same sticky, moldable feel. If the mix is too thick you have too much sand and should add a little chum or water. If it is too thin it will not hold together, like making a snowball with water, so err on the thick side and keep adding sand until it reaches that peanut-butter texture.
Dry sand makes the mix far easier to control because you can add as much or as little as you need to hit the right consistency. Dry sand also will not blow out of an open bucket while you run to your spot, where it can whirl around like a tornado and disappear. A Yeti bucket or any bucket with a lid keeps the sand dry and contained on the run out, so it is ready when you arrive.
Two ways. It chums vertically, breaking apart as it sinks so you put chum through the entire water column instead of just the surface, which reaches mutton snappers, gray snappers, and other big bottom fish. You can also bury a live pilchard inside a ball and drop it straight down so it slips past the small snappers and jacks behind the boat, then give it a tug at the bottom to free a live bait right where the big fish are.
It shines on bottom species like mutton snappers and gray snappers, and other big fish holding deep. Because the ball carries chum and even your bait through the small fish and down to the bottom, it lets you target the larger fish you could never reach by chumming the surface alone. Drop a few balls with a bottom rod baited up and you may catch a mutton at a spot you only thought held yellowtail.
Standard surface chumming feeds the top of the column, but a sand ball carries chum, and even your bait, straight down past the pickers. I explain how it slips a live pilchard through a wall of small snappers and jacks in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The whole recipe lives or dies on soft chum and dry sand kneaded to a peanut-butter feel. I walk through thawing overnight without stinking up the boat and keeping sand contained on the run in the episode, so press play in the player above.
On some Into the Blue shoots we filmed a sand ball falling and leaving a smoke trail of chum all the way to the bottom. I describe how that vertical chum line draws mutton and gray snappers in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Sand-ball chum is simple but deadly, just sand, thawed chum, and a peanut-butter mix. Keep the sand dry, get the consistency right, and drop a few with a bottom bait, and you will pull big snappers off spots you never knew held them.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
sand-ball chum · chumming · mutton snapper · gray snapper · bottom fishing · Into the Blue · Steve Roger · live bait · yellowtail · How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to the habits that make you a better angler, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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