GotTrout, if you feel your line taking off or good solid tuggs(Like any Big Fish) not bumps then it's safe to say you most likely have a legaly hooked fish, but not always. Little bumps, snagups, tight line, rock skipping obviously aren't fish, so don't set the hook and you'll be in the clear and you won't loose as much gear. If you Drive that hookpoint into a stump, branch, rock or fish, it's still a snag and does you no good and usually is a hassle of some sort and a waste of time.

Like i said, the people that were snagging were using the Bill Dance hookset. For those of you who don't know what this looks like, it starts with the pole pointed at the fish and then they quickly pull up the pole so far over their head they almost fall backwards or have gear flying at them if they didn't get the snag. LOL. Not such a big deal by itself but when they do it almost every cast just because they feel a little bump or their line stops moving is rediculous.

I can't ever remember hooking a salmon that just ate my hook, yarn and corkie but never moved or made any sign of them being hooked. That rarely happens. These aren't ghost fish yet. And i see no problem in snagging 2 or 3 but after that, it becomes obvious that what you are doing isn't getting the fish to bite it. SO change your setup. Why anyone would use 1/2 to 1 oz of lead and a 6-7ft leader in 2 feet of slow water is beyond me unless they are snaggin.

Why can't they/you/them present the bait or lure with a float? It works fine for me and others with almost no snaggs or lost gear. The answer to that is painted by the actions of the snaggers. So the only answer they can possibly make us think of is that they simply don't care.
This is no i'm/we are better than anyone else, it's simply..........FOLLOW THE DAMMM RULES!!!!!!!