Snagless jig rig for pier/shore anglers

I came up with this snagless setup for lingcod, but no reason why it shouldn't work for rock cod or any other saltwater fish in areas where there's a lot of snags and you lose a lot of gear. I think it works pretty well, so I thought I'd share. You need four things:

1.) The jig you're planning on using
2.) A banana mooching sinker (I haven't noticed a difference between colored and uncolored)
3.) A wire snap that can be opened from both sides
4.) An appropriate size snagless plastic worm hook for bass.

First of all, rig the hook in the jig just like you would for bass. They come in really, really big sizes. Gamekatsu has a 5/0 one that's perfect for lings. Second, undo both sides of the snap, and thread the eye of the hook on one end, the small swivel side of the sinker on the other, and clip it back together. Then tie your line to the chain end (or use a steel leader for lings and tie that to your line) and you've got a jig that attracts far fewer snags.

thats a great idea!! it seems like you could take most freshwater bass/weedless techniques and adapt them for saltwater. i dont know why i didnt think of that before. it would be nice to use a sliding bullet sinker like in a texas rig instead of a mooching sinker so you can let the weight slide and the fish cant use it for leverage, but has anyone seen 2 or 4 oz sliders???

I've never seen bullet weights that heavy, unfortunately. The heaviest I've ever seen in freshwater sinkers is 1 oz, which considering that most lakes don't have the heavy current of saltwater is pretty much as heavy as you need. The good news is that banana sinkers can be rigged as sliders as well. Instead of tying the line directly to the sinker, run it through the swivel rings at both ends and tie it to the hook. A large swivel tied to the main line a few feet up should keep it reasonably close to the hook when casting.