Spanish vs Greenback question

[dos ballenas]

Originally Posted by -scallywag-

Ohh and one more thing....slow trolling the same greenie all day, hoping for your # to get pulled = bad habit!! if you absolutly must have a bait out at ALL TIMES at least get into the habit of changing out your bait for a fresh one when the area your in looks or feels fishy, I promise, it makes a HUGE difference.

very good point to here... not to mention that sometimes bait will slowly die while siting in your bait tank. Keep making bait as you go throughout the day and constantly cycle bait into your tank and then onto your hook.

One of the most common things I hear sport boat captains say is to try a "fresh bait".... I recently watched a a deck hand slowly choose a nice bait, cast it out, and get bit, back to back, all in front of a bunch of guys soaking what they though were "lively" baits.

[walrus]

Jim Day said; Greenbacks are faster and have more flash, Spanish are heartier and last longer on the hook. Greenbacks have to be constantly swimming to breath, Spanish can sit still in your tank, and be fine. I've caught yellows on both, but nothing get's bit quicker when things are hot then a lively lit up greenback. Flyline I prefer greenbacks, halibut I prefer greenbacks, or fast bites I prefer greenbacks on the loop, but for dropper loop fishing when things are slow I prefer spanish because the live longer on a dropper loop rigs. One thing to note. On a Carolina rig, or halibut rig a greenback will swim around and stay off the bottom, untill it wears itself out and dies. A Spanish will hug the bottom and hide, for that reason sometimes spanish are better on a dropper loop the a carolina unless you are on clean sand.

That explains why I never caught a fish off the bottom using a greenback, but have on spanish. I love this site it continually helps me get better.

[bigbarrels]

what is the largest Greenback you would pin on a hook for YT? There has been some large ones out there recently. However, on my last outing I also found a huge school of 5-7 inch Greenbacks. So, also what is the smallest you would pin on for a YT? Last outing I had perfect bait, one hit and I engaged the reel too fast (4-5 seconds) and lost the fish..... Doh! Sometimes fishing La Jolla reminds me of when I use to fish at the Santa Ana River lakes......you have one shot at a big fish and if you miss it, you are done for the day......no skills

[Zed]

I'm starting a grassroots campaign to revert back to calling them jack macks and green macks. Spanish macks are something completely different, and more like sierra macks.

And sculpin are scorpionfish, and wsb are croakers!