Trolling a mack
 

Is there a trick to not killing your mack 5 minutes into trolling it? I went out last weekend and blew through my bait because they kept dying on me or becoming very lifeless. I started thinking about it afterwards and thought maybe it was because I was hooking them from under their chin up through the nose, thus forcing their mouth shut so water can't flow through it and through the gills. Maybe cross hooking their nose is a better call? Any tips would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Nose hook the greenbacks sideways (in one side out the other leaving the mouth to freely open or close) through the nose. The should stay alive for hours fly lining this way.

Okay, thanks for the tip. I figured that having their mouth forced shut was part of the reason they were dying so fast.

You got it, they should last forever, at least until the seals get to them.

Only pin the mouth closed on anchovies.

Sometimes when I nose hook them sideways, the hook will spin and the tip will get buried in their gill plate just from them swimming around. Hooking them through the roof of their mouth and out the top of the nose seems to avoid this problem, and they can still last hours.

Anchovies I nose hook them sideways, but I rarely troll them so I don't have too many problems with them dragging along with a wide open mouth.

Were gonna be trolling macks too. This might sound dumb but I'm fairly new to this. If a dog should get to it does it spit the hook or should I cut the line right away in an attempt not to get flipped?

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Makes sense. I'll give both of these a try next time.

Stick to greenbacks, the spanish macs dont last no matter what you do. You can drag a greenback for hours.

There's a good old thread about greenies vs spanish here http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/s...ead.php?t=8248 It seems spanish might live longer but it depends how you fish them. Greenies for trolling, spanish for halibut drifting perhaps.

Not dumb at all. If a dog grabs your bait chances are he will strip it off your hook clean or bite it in half. They are pros at stealing bait. Rarely a juvenile will get hooked and you can usually horse them in and deal with them or call it a loss and cut it. Your drag should not be fully buttoned down to the point you get flipped. Just pretend it's a 50# yellow and have some fun

Hadn't come across that thread...thanks. Good info.

I've hooked four BIG dogs. Got two to the yak and cut one leader and cut the others hook with dykes. Lost one on a crab trap and cut the last one off before it could take out 5 other yaks soaking squid on droppers(really the first I ever hooked). Those were all on circle hooks trolling for T's. Never hooked one on smaller J hooks. Not even a stinger rig.

They bark a lot when you get them to the yak, but are pretty calm for the most part.

1'O ringed gorilla. Won't turn sideways.

Pinning the mouth closed is a sure way to kill your bait. I used to rig the Mack's across the nose but got tired if the hook turning in to the baits head. I went to the in the mouth and up through the nose rigging and found the hook turns less. Mike

I was taught
 

Jim Simons, show us one day we had him for a lesson, hook the mack just in front of the dorsal fin, not too deep to go through the back bone , I have never had a problem trolling one or hooking a fish.:cheers1:

I've had green backs live for HOURS on troll and then released them and watched them swim away like nothing ever happend. Side hook or through the roof of the mount out the snout. They're a pretty hardy fish.

To troll them I pin them sideways through the nose.
When I'm dropping a Mack in the water where there's a lot of bait fish I pin it somewhere between its dorsal fin and tail to get it to not only swim down to the depth I want but to also make it look different ( aka an easier target) then the rest of the school.

:reel:

:cheers1: