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A friend told me that it's illegal to fish in Oregon using canned corn. Now I've never really considered using canned corn for bait, but is that really a law in Oregon? Not sure why eating corn would be any worse for a fish than eating a slimy worm? — Sylvia, Medford Well now, Sylvia, have you ever tried a slimy worm with a little butter and garlic? OK, neither have we, but it might make it a bit more palatable. We found numerous references and debates online about whether it's legal to fish in Oregon with canned corn, or any corn for that matter. But, since you can't always believe what you read on the Internet (shocking, we know), we turned to a more reliable source — the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. John Seabourne is the operations manager of the Fish Division at ODFW and he momentarily added to our confusion about whether it's illegal to fish with canned corn. "It is and it isn't," he said. And then he cleared it up: It is legal to use it as bait if it's on a hook, but it is illegal to use it for chumming, which is apparently a common practice in some other locales. For those of you not familiar with the finer points of fishing, chumming involves throwing a handful of food or other attractant into the water to attract fish to the area where you're plopping down your line.  Seabourne said he even used the technique when ice fishing in Connecticut years ago, although he favored creamed corn. In Oregon, however, it's illegal to chum using corn — or anything, for that matter — when sport fishing. So keep your corn on your hook or on your plate, Sylvia, and you'll be fine. Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected]. To see a collection of columns, go to mailtribune.com/youasked. We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.