February 2014 – CatsandCarp.com

The Fox FX Stalker Chilla Bag

The Fox FX Stalker Chilla bag is a great bag for any fisherman who wants to put all their gear into a one bag and a quiver. If you are stalking or at least trying to stay mobile, this is a fabulous set up.

I have owned my Fox FX Stalker Chilla bag for about a year now and it has been my primary tackle bag for most of that time. Between my quiver and my stalker bag I have everything I need on my shoulders. I can get set up and take down much quicker.

Here are some of the features of the Fox FX stalker Chilla Bag.

The first thing about the stalker bag that you notice is that is it big. Stuffed full the bag can bulge a whole out a whole bunch. The dimensions unstuffed are:

• Length 14.5 in /37 cm
• Width 10.6 in /27 cm
• Height 10.2 in / 26 cm

When this bag is full of gear it gets pretty heavy so the extra plush shoulder strap is greatly appreciated. In my bag I carry a days worth of bait, glugs, goo, ground baits, my scale, weighing sling, bite alarms, bobbins, bite alarm receiver, stiff rig box, pva bags, spare spools, lead box, swivel and terminal boxes, and whateverelse is rolling around in the bottom of my bag.

Another thing that stands out about the stalker chilla bag is the durability and weight of the materials and components. The nylon materials, webbing, clips, zippers and other components are all chunky and built to last. I have nothing break on my bag in the nearly 12 months I have been using it.

Fox FX Stalker Chilla Bag Zippers

One of the key features of the FX stalker chilla bag is the waterproof pocket with the removable washable lining. This pocket is great because it is absolutely water tight. This is great for protecting your car and gear. IF one of your glug pots leaks in your trunk, you will wish you had it stored in a water proof pocket. If your pocket gets too nasty your can pull it free from its velcro and hose it down.

Fox FX Stalker Chilla Bag Waterproof Lining

My wife confiscated one of my bags to use as baby bag. She loves the waterproof pocket to keep the dirty diapers. The water tight lining keeps the odor in (which is good for keeping bait odor in).

The flap that cover the top of two of the pockets acts as a nice waterproofing, which will help protect your PVAs. The underside of the flap has a clear pockets where you can store pliers, baiting needles, and other little bits of tackle.

The bottom of the bag has four tough high traction feet that protect the bottom of the bag from wear-and-tear and keep it out of the mud a little bit.

All in all, the bag is tough, durable and carries everything you need for a day session. For a video review of the Fox FX Stalker Chilla Bag click here.

Most fisherman know what chumming is but don’t know how to do it or when to chum. Chumming for catfish can be a great tactic. It works especially well on channel cats, wels and blue catfish.

When to use chum on catfish:

When you want to catch a lot of cat fish out of the same fishing hole, chum is the way to go. Chum helps gather in large schools of fish, but it also keeps cat fish from spooking while you catch their friends. If you keep a trickle of chum going into a spot, the fish will spook less easily when they are feeding confidentially. Whenever there is a lot of fishing pressure (because of you or your fishing neighbors) chumming will help the fish calm down as they gobble up freebies.

Chumming is also a great tactic when you have limit number of places to fish. If you can’t chase the fish, then bring the fish to you. Chumming the fish draws them into the spot.

How to properly chum a spot:

The point of chumming is to keep catfish in the area and to keep them feeding aggressively. Obviously, you don’t want to get the catfish full of chum before they eat your bait. Spreading out your chum, keeps the catfish hunting around for your chum and means it takes longer to for them to eat all the chum.

Steadily and regularly chumming a spot is the key to keeping the fishing interested but hungry. Chumming at the same time of day when possible is also great. Fish have long memories when it comes to finding food. If you have a local favorite spot, dropping a couple handfuls of chum at the same time of day for a couple days prior to fishing is a great way of getting fish congregating.

Chumming Tools:

Sling shots, baiting spoons, spods, spombs, PVA bag, method feeder, bait boats, and your own two hands are great tools for chumming. Which tool need to use depends mostly on the distance you are chumming at and your budget.

A chumming spod from Nash Tackle.

A good overhand chuck is helpful at up to about 15-18 feet depending on what you are throwing. After that, a sling shot and baiting spoons helps a lot. Spods and spombs are effective at up to about 110 yards depending on your skill and equipment. PVA bags require less skill and are more convenient than spods/spombs and cost less to try, however PVA’s limit your chum volume substantially. Method feeders work good for chumming a spot tight to your hook bait but are limited in regards to chum volume.

Bait boats are incredible chumming tools but they cost $7,00 to $2,000. Plus all the jealous fisherman without bait boats will tease you as a vent to their envy.

Great Catfish Chums:

My personal favorite catfish chum is deer corn. I soak it and then boil it until is squishes between the fingers. I like it because I can use the corn kernels as a hook bait as well as chum and because it costs only $12 for a 50lb of dry deer corn which then makes about 120 lbs of chum. The down side to deer corn is that the catfish fill their bellies rather quickly, so if you are using deer corn, use it more sparingly, spread it out more and chum through out your fishing session.

Boiled freed corn (“Maze”)

Sour wheat is another great chum. Sour wheat is soaked & boiled wheat that is left to ferment for a couple days. Sour wheat can’t be used as a hook bait but the smaller kernels mean that the catfish don’t fill up on the wheat as quickly as they do with deer corn. Consequently, sour wheat is a great chum if you want to chum a spot the night before you plan on fishing. Wheat costs about $40 for a $50 lb bag. So it is more expensive than deer corn, but a 50 lb bag of dry wheat makes a lot of chum.

Fish Feed can be bought from many feed stores. Fish feed pellets work especially good on stocked catfish who were likely raised on the stuff. A 50 lb bag costs less than $20. The pellets are smaller than corn kernels but larger than sour wheat kernels so adjust accordingly.

Range cubes break down slowly, forcing the carp to hang around to nibble on them.

Range Cube cost about $14 for a 50 lb bag and can also be bought at feed stores. Large range cubes won’t be eaten whole by smaller fish and blue gills until they have soaked for several hours and broken down a bit. This means that range cubes can’t get gobbled up too quickly and keep the fish in one spot longer. However, large catfish can eat range cubes whole and fill up rather quickly on them.

Fish meal by itself is not a very good chum. Fish meal is just a powder. However, you can mix fish meal with other chums to give it an added kick.

Manufactured carp fishing and cat fishing pellets can make great chum. Marine halibut flavors work excellent as cat fish chum. Flavored liquids and powders can be added to the chums for extra kick.

These pellets are fabulous for catching lots of catfish with the added advantage of not rotting in the trunk of your car.

The egg loop knot is a fabulous rigs, but unless you are an Alaskan salmon fisherman you have probably never heard of it. The egg loop knot was design to help prevent salmon eggs from falling off the hook when fishing for silver and king salmon in Alaskan rivers.

However, don’t let the name fool you. Anytime you are fishing with soft squishy baits that fall off the hook too much, the egg loop knot is a life saver.

The egg loop knot is basically a knot-less knot or snell knot with a a twist. The result is that the egg-loop knot has a retractable knot along the shank of the hook that you loop around the bait in order to pin it to the shank of the hook.

To use the egg loop knot, just bait the hook normally.

After baiting the hook, extend the egg loop.

Put the egg loop around the dangling parts and then tighten it to cinch up the bait.

Soft baits like chicken liver don’t come off the hook easily once secured with an egg loop knot.

When catfishing with chicken livers, clams, squid, or cut bait that has gotten a bit too soft I love to use an egg loop knot. An egg loop knot can really put some fish on the bank.

One of the worst things that can happen is to cast your rig out only to have your bait fall off when it hits the water or after getting torn up by small fish. You sit there waiting for a catfish to bite a hook with no more bait on it. An egg loop prevents that from happening.