Jon,
One cannot completely prevent snagging either a spoon or a bucktail but there are two things that you can do through technique to help mimimize. First, is to countdown the lure's freefall in the case of a Lit'l Jimy. Similiarly in fishing a falling spoon, there has to be a slight tension on the line,ever so light. That's why the best spoon jigging rods have a light tip to detect not only the wobbles but also the bites. And secondly one must be prepared at all times to move either lure upward at the slightest tap. It could be a nibble or it could be a stone on bottom. The worst an angler could do is to allow the lure to freefall into a stonepile and continue sliding down into the crevassses between the rocks..Brady