Another chum idea I've actually used, and it seems to work. Problem with some of these chums is that if you have a good catch, you don't know if it was the chum, or if the fish were there already. Oh well, anyway.... this is a good chum idea when you're fishing vertically, e.g. from an anchored boat or down from a pier. I used it a lot when fishing the arms of some big lakes in 20-40 ft. of water. It requires sardines packed in water, and a small brown paper bag.
Get 2 or 3 cans of sardines packed in water. Cheapo. Drain most of the water out. Chop or mash them up to sort of a puree, maybe not that fine.
Go fishing, and find your spot. Scoop the chopped sardines into a small brown paper bag. Put a lemon-sized rock in the bag. Tie the mouth of the bag to a line, or maybe to an extra rod & reel you're not using.
SLOWLY lower it to the bottom. SLOWLY. Then even MORE SLOWLY, raise it up 2-3 feet off the bottom. SLOW! Then... give the line a good jerk. The rock will tear open the bag, spilling the chum in a big cloud that will drift and spread and attract cats.
If you're going to fish several spots, you can have more chum in a plastic container or something, and some extra paper bags and rocks. It can get pretty interesting when other fishermen at the boat ramp wonder what the heck you're doing with those rocks and paper bags....
