Whatever you fish for, be it fresh or saltwater, you know where you should be fishing. But sometimes, it can be frightening to cast into the heart of a snag or brush pile where the fish are, knowing you might lose whatever you have tied on.

Here’s a simple way to avoid getting hung up. With the following snag-resistant rig, you can present bait to the fish where they live instead of trying to lure them out of their hiding place. I’m not saying this tackle is immune to mazes of mangrove roots or treetops, but it greatly reduces the chances of getting hung up. Protect the hook point with a fluorocarbon weed guard; you can fish more effectively in thick cover.

This method works with J hooks, circle hooks, and some lures. I’ve been using this technique to make a weedless soft-plastic shrimp, and countless other applications exist. One of my favorite and most effective ways to use this is with a single hook, no weight, and live bait in shallow water. It also works well on a circle hook chin weight under a sliding cork over a really rough bottom. Sometimes, you have to go in the cover or drift just above it to get the bite. Most gamefish attack from below, so bait on a sliding cork is the ultimate target while staying out of snags.

Here are the steps to snelling a weed guard onto the hook’s shank. I like the stiffness of Seagar 80-pound fluoro for weed guards. Depending on your application, other lines might work fine, too. Make sure to choose a hook with an eye that will accept two pieces of the weed guard and the leader you are snelling.

1. Cut about 6 inches of 80-pound fluoro and bend it backward against the curve of the spool to mold the shape of your weed guard.

2. Insert both tag ends through the backside of the hook eye, leaving an inch of the doubled 80-pound fluoro on the shank of the hook.

3. Pass a leader line down through the eye of the hook and the center of the tag ends of the 80-pound fluoro. Pull out about 6—or 8 inches.

4. Holding the weed guard securely on the hook shank, make a 5- or 6-loop snell over the 80-pound fluoro, going forward toward the eye of the hook. DO NOT pull down hard on it right away.

5. Keeping the 80-pound fluoro straight on the hook shank, gently roll it into place and push forward BEFORE pulling down hard to “cinch” the snell.

6. After everything is pulled tight, trim the 80-pound fluoro off just behind the hook’s barb and the doubled 80-pound fluoro close behind the snell.

Check out Tim Barefoot’s website, barefootcatsandtackle.com, for fishing tackle and how-to videos for Freshwater or Saltwater.

Additionally, you can view more fishing videos on Tim Barefoot’s YouTube channel.

For smaller freshwater fish try:

Size #6: Target fish include Panfish including Bluegill (Bream), Sunfish, and Crappie. Also great for Trout, Carp, White Perch, and more.

For larger freshwater fish try:

Size 1/0: Target fish include Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Larger Trout, Carp, Walleye, and more.

Barefoot Jig: Target fish include Trout (speckled and gray), Drum (red and black), Flounder, Striped and Hybrid Bass, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye and more!

For larger catfish fish try:

7/0 Catfish Circle Hook: Target fish include Blue, Bullhead, Channel, Flathead, and White Catfish.

SALTWATER TACKLE YOU MAY WANT TO TRY:

7/0 and 11/0 J-Hook Chin Weights: Target fish include Tuna, Wahoo, Mahi or Common Dolphin, King Mackerel, Wahoo, and more. Easy to rig!

4 oz. Crab Decoy Jig: Target fish for Striped Bass, nearshore Drum, Snook, Grouper, west coast bottom fish, and more.

4 oz. Tuna Squid Decoy Jig: From the eastern, western, Alaskan, and gulf coasts, target fish include: Tuna, Dolphin, Wahoo, Fluke, Flounder, Striped Bass, Seabass, Amberjack (east coast), Yellow Tail (west coast), California White Sea Bass (west coast), Grouper, Snapper, Halibut, Ling cod, and all Alaskan bottom fish.

8 oz. - 12 oz. 10/0 Squid Decoy Jig: Catch BIG Grouper, Amberjack, Giant Stripers, and more.