Kalamabama, now I'm not a plunker, and I certainly am not saying that these guys are not intentionally trying to snag the fish which is just wrong. However, what you describe sounds a lot like an over sized plunking outfit. They need the big weight to get their big honkin lure to sit on the bottom just a fact. "Plunker", any input here. Maybe, these people just don't have a clue on what to use and they are stuck on the bif fish = big lure mantality. Just seems to me if someone is activly trying to snag a fish there must be a better way to sang one then to sit and wait, why aren't they just repeatedly casting out and retrieving ??
I don't know maybe I'm just tired of people jumping to colclusions and saying that 99% of the people are "bad" or snaggers. Even after you asked a guy and he essentially told you that he knew that he had to hook th fish in the mouth for it to be leagal. Why don't you ask him to explain his technique and then determine for yourself if he's really just a snagger. Chances are he may not realize what he's doing wrong and you could give him a couple hints (ie: smaller baits and hook...) that he could use to lower his chances of snagging fish and raise his chance of getting a fish. If he is just a snagger, make sure that you tell him that you just saw the game warden heading upriver and shuld be coming back any minute hehe..

Just my thoughts,

Duke