Best style weight avoid snags

Hey guys. Usually when I’m shore fishing pool 2 I stick with jig/plastic or cranks. I’m wondering-if I were to go with something like a Lindy and minnow what would be my best set up for avoiding snags in the rocky bottom and current? Also, floating jig head or plain hook below the weight? How long of snell? Other rigging suggestions? Or should I just stick with my good ole jig and plastic. Never used minnows down there either. Would it be worth trying fatheads in the jigs over plastics or will they come off too easy? Sorry for the long, multi-layered question and I really appreciate any answers!
Jake

You talkin pool 2 area by the mouth of the Mhaha creek?

You ever try casting draggin jigs from shore. They work great pitching wingdams, rocky shorelines and wood from the boat. I would guess I loose about 1 draggin jig to every 10 to 15 regular jigs.

Curse of the shore fisherman!!! I lose a dozen jigs an outing to a new area easily from shore, easily. But once you get to know an area you shouldn’t lose many at all. Its all in the line angle, from a boat you are much better situated.

Lindy styles catch lots of fish. Plain hook for me. Tried every color and bead(with an exception of some owner #4 hooks that have a glow bead attached to the shank) and plain does the ticket for me. THE KEY is go with a heavy weight. You want to be able to cast it out and immediately drop to bottom and hold, and hope you didn’t fall into a snag or rock crevice. Once the rig starts drifting down that’s when it finds itself into a snag. Make sure to not cast it out perpendicular to shore, to much drag on line, ill walk up to a point where my line when casted to the spot I want will be somewhere around 30-40degrees.

Ive found myself going with 2oz disc weights, and they hold really well. I will bring two rods, one for pitching and the other for livebait( which is beefier). Also if you are pitching and snag up or want to switch up things you can immediately cast out livebait rig while tying up new one. Wasting no time without something in the water. But as far as weights I typically buy bulk sale stuff online or in store and stock up. Pyramid, bell, disc, even the egg, the style seems to be less important than the size of weight.

Minnows are key when the water is clearer for myself, not so much the water temp, but once clarity starts turning poor, plastics can shine. Ill get usually two kinds of minnows, fatheads and a half dozen of something, shiners/suckers. I like big bait bc you simply don’t know whatll be on the other end. Got my first, and only, flathead on a shiner over northside Mpls.

Last is when reeling in such a heavy weight, just because you started to reel in doesn’t mean you are free and clear, the heaviness of the weight will get caught up on the way in, if not reeled fast enough. I have this one cat spot, where the shelf of the shoreline drops off about 15 yds out and they sit right beyond(and in) all the snags and rocks, and you got to cast it beyond. Its a biiatch to burn the reel in, especially with my daughter, but I switched to a baitcaster with a 7.2:1 ratio for that rod now and she handles it much better now. Something to think about. Initially I was going to give up on that spot bc every other set came snagged and lost, but just had to figure it out.

Thanks for the responses guys! For a while I used swimming head jigs and seemed to hang up on rocks much less than with the standard ball head. Anyone know where I can find some of these? The bfishin draggin jigs are pretty spendy. I can’t for the life of me find anything like them in bulk at gander/fleet farm or even cabelas… Ideas?

3-way rigs work well for shore fishing; you could run a plain hook or a floating jig with your favorite bait. you can cast them out and let them sit or you can cast and retrieve. when reeling in keep your line taut, keep you rod tip up, and walk the weight up-&-over rocks.

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Weight and angle of cast is probably more important, but I myself prefer bullet sinkers or walking sinkers. For sure with braid lines, I will use bullet sinkers. For one thing is that sometimes a little current drifting or slow crawl is what get’s me the bite.

I have used some old jigging spoons for weights as well. For one thing, they seem to have better lift when you need to retrieve your rig.

AUTO_5 wrote:

Thanks for the responses guys! For a while I used swimming head jigs and seemed to hang up on rocks much less than with the standard ball head. Anyone know where I can find some of these? The bfishin draggin jigs are pretty spendy. I can’t for the life of me find anything like them in bulk at gander/fleet farm or even cabelas… Ideas?

Have not seen them in bulk. Have ordered them from BfishN and had them come in 5 packs but not sure if they are any cheaper that way. Think Joes Sporting Good in about the only place in town Ive seen them sold unless you head down towards red wing. I think they are a pretty cheap jig compared to all the regular size jigs a person looses and there are plenty of spots I wouldnt even think of throwing a regular jig into where its no problem with the draggin jigs.

Splitshot sinkers lightly pinched on, or splitshots pinched on the tag end of the swivel. The sinker gets snagged and just pulls off.

They were $5.xx for a 5 pack at joes yesterday

The best snag free weight is one that snags and breaks off but doesn’t snap your main line. This is what I do cat fishing. Maybe you can apply it to walleye gear…

Starting from the hook and working my way to the rod…

Hook, leader, swivel, bead, swivel snap, rod tip.
I attach my weight to the snap swivel by first attaching a small zip tie to the eye of the weight. I then hook the snap swivel to the zip tie.
When the weight snags my mainline is stronger than the zip tie, zip breaks and I reel in and attach another weight quickly.

Multiple advantages to this method. I can change weights on the fly and I can remove the weights during transport to keep the weight from slamming around on the rod. Also by not adding the lead directly to the line I don’t need to worry about sharp edges damaging my line.
On the walleye end of things I have used 4# line instead of a zip tie as it breaks much easier.

Snake weights are pretty easy to make and also fairly snag free