Snagging is a fishing technique that involves catching fish using sharp grappling hooks tethered to a fishing line to externally pierce into the flesh of nearby fish, without needing the fish to swallow any hook with its mouth like in angling. Weighted multi-hook rigs can be used to increase chances of success, and modern technologies such as underwater video camera can also be used to visually aid and time the snagging. Snagging is often used to catch herbivorous/algaevorous fish species, such as paddlefish, that are not attracted to normal angling baits or lures as they primarily filter-feed on plankton. However, for fish species that can be enticed easily by baits or lures, snagging techniques are often discouraged or prohibited as it causes more mutilating injuries to the fish (which diminishes the fishs chance of survival even after catch and release) and is viewed as violating the principle of fair chase, and has been associated with overfishing (especially with multi-hook snag rigs) and other social controversies concerning animal cruelty.
The technique of snagging involves casting a hook into the water and waiting until a fish is sighted. Once the fish is in line with the hook, the snagger then yanks on the line to "snag" the fish before attempting to reel it in. Snagging is often used to catch non-game fish like gar, carp, buffalo, and suckers, and is carefully regulated by each state. Foul-hooked fish, which are fish that have been hooked in the head, body, or tail but not the mouth, are typically illegal to keep and considered unethical by most anglers.