Spanish vs Greenback question

[SGV Rookie]

I think certain sea creatures like certain things. I once saw a 1.5 lb dead smelt get turned down by a seal. He was happy to take my daughters offering of a dead green back. In my opinion I think the Pacific green back has a higher oil content and is prefered by fish including themselves.

On Spanish macs, I was out on a two day fishing trip, out of thirty on board only 13 albacore were caught. The night fishing was a blast though. Light bass rod fishing with jigs and we were catching 4 pound spanish macks! Fun and made great shark bait. I brought some home and it makes the bomb Ceviche and decent fish tacos.

[Useful Idiot]

Some guy called the Iceman wrote an article about live bait a while back. click here

[Jimmyz123]

Originally Posted by BigBalsa

Attachment 2873Attachment 2874

So the top one is the Spanish Mac and the bottom photo is the greenie? Am I correct?

I will honestly say I have never seen a greenback until now.

[shortstack]

Green backs are Mackerel, Spanish Macks are actually Jacks not a Mackerel. They do look very similar but if you look closely at the meat when bled out the spanish macks have lighter colored flesh and less oilly. If you try spanish mac sushi and mackerel side by side they taste very different, So that being said I'm sure some fish YT,WSB,Butts, and so on prefer different taste.

[dfroggy54]

greeenie for sure!

[THE DARKHORSE]

Smelt, Spanish Mackerel, Pacific Greenback Mackerel, Squid, Chovie, Sardine---they all work in the right place at the right time---just like a rusty 'ol, beat to crap, iron without any paint.

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by WahooUSMA

Why are greenbacks that much better than Spanish mac’s for YT? I’ve read numerous articles referring to pinning a Spanish mac on and what great bait they are. Then, I’ve read other articles that indicate Spanish mac’s are the least preferred bait for YT. I can’t remember the last time on BWE I read about someone pinning a Spanish mac on and nailing a YT. What’s the difference? I know I’ll get some wise @ss remarks, but I am totally serious. Last weekend I couldn’t catch a grennback for the life of me, but caught a shit load of Spanish.

Greenbacks are essentially tuna, Spanish are jacks.

Think of it like Bonita vrs yellowtail.

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.

Like I said: I like both, caught yellows on both, but I like to use them in slightly different ways.

Jim

[467echo]

Originally Posted by Jimmyz123

So the top one is the Spanish Mac and the bottom photo is the greenie? Am I correct?

I will honestly say I have never seen a greenback until now.

250 posts in 6 months and havn't figured out what a greenback looks like until now Time to get the feet wet!!

[deepdvr]

Originally Posted by Jimmyz123

So the top one is the Spanish Mac and the bottom photo is the greenie? Am I correct?

I will honestly say I have never seen a greenback until now.

LOL...the other way around Jimmy.

[Jzo]

Originally Posted by Jimmyz123

So the top one is the Spanish Mac and the bottom photo is the greenie? Am I correct?

I will honestly say I have never seen a greenback until now.

9-9-2010-6-32-07-PM2.jpg

Greenbacks are very slimy seem to be bigger in size and very active.

Pictures provided by BigBalsa, Edited by Jzo.

[dsafety]

Originally Posted by Jim Day

Greenbacks are faster and have more flash, Spanish are heartier and last longer on the hook.

Jim, I hesitate to question anything someone with your credentials says but in my experience greenbacks are far more durable than Spanish. Maybe it is different when weighted to the bottom but for flylining, give me a greenie any time.

Bob

[WahooUSMA]

Originally Posted by 467echo

250 posts in 6 months and havn't figured out what a greenback looks like until now Time to get the feet wet!!

Yeah Eric, but you do catch fish, whatever you might be fishing with!

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by dsafety

Jim, I hesitate to question anything someone with your credentials says but in my experience greenbacks are far more durable than Spanish. Maybe it is different when weighted to the bottom but for flylining, give me a greenie any time.

Bob

I have no credentials I just fish too much...

It's not a big deal. Like I said the greenbacks are essentially little tuna, and order to breath well they have to be swimming. On a dropper loop they are stationary and can't swim around so the struggle against the loop and wear themselves out and die. Spanish don't have the same problems. It depends on the drift but I have found they just don't live as long. Same thing if your bait tank pump fails a Spanish can last a lot longer then a greenback if the flow stops. Greenbacks swim harder so they seem to be stronger, but because they swim so hard they wear themselves out and die faster.

I never thought about it much until I fished a bunch of Caballitos down at PV for big tuna. Caballito's (the little horse) are well known for their ability to live a long time on the hook. We were making bait and I got a Greenback and was psyched, but one of the locals told me to toss it back that it was lousy bait because it would die on the hook.

Caballito's are horse mackerel or Scads in the jack family just like Our Spanish macks.

This is a caballito:




This is what we call a Spanish mack:


As you can see they are pretty similar. Cabbies are just shorter and wider but they look remarkably the same.

Here's a tuna I got on a cabby down there:


I got that with a Torium twenty 65 spectra and a short fifty fluorocarbon topshot. Essentially heavy La Jolla gear.... LOL

It's actually kind of a funny catch. After three days of fishing the right gear: 130 spectra to 130 fluoro, on 50W reels in foaming breaking 200 to 300 pound fish, I decided to toss out a Cabbie on my Pargo rod just to hook one. Lucky for me I hooked one of the smallest fish around...LOL

I swear that bait was only in the water for ten seconds before it got nailed.

I was ready to bait another but the locals gave me a ton of shit for going to the lighter gear, as they didn't want to see me hook and loose a real fish. So I put it the "light stuff" away, but I was just glad to get some blood on the deck.

I was definitely undergunned for the local fish with that setup.

Here's a reel fish my buddy Rob scored on the same trip:


I would of loved to hook that thing but never got a shot.

At any rate since that PV trip I've had a new respect for Spanish macks and I really like using them. You can land quality yellows on them. They are actually one of my favorite baits to fish, and from my experiance they do last longer on the hook then greenbacks, but your milege might vary, and I think a lot of it has to do with how you fish them. To be honest though I've caught more yellows on Sardines then both our mackeral combined and I have caught bigger ones on squid then on anything else. It's all good, it's all about the conditions and how you use them.

[Jimmyz123]

Originally Posted by deepdvr

LOL...the other way around Jimmy.

Thanks guys, it has been a while since I have been on the water. My feet are pretty dry.

[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!