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Not for nothing, but I fish in Jersey 3 or 4 times a year.....
Salted clams are okay, if you must, but fresh are much better. The "staying on the hook" thing.....lose your fish finder rig, and switch to a hi-lo rig, or the same set up with only 1 hook. The fish finder has a tendency to "whip" the bait on the cast....clam goes one way, sinker goes the other. Had that problem all the time until I switched to the hi-lo. It is more streamlined on the cast, the sinker heading out first, and the bait following it in a straight line.
Take your clam, hook it thru the "tongue". Then take the "lip", wrap it around the body a few times as much as you can, and then put the end of the lip thru the hook again. Between the hooking method and the hi-lo rig, I rarely (though, every so often do) lose my clam bait on the cast.
Some guys use elastic to hold it on, but I've never been a fan of that.
If you MUST salt clams......shuck up your clams. Get a 1 quart plastic container (such as a yogurt or cottage cheese container), that has a number of small holes poked in the bottom. Put this container inside another one that has no holes in it. Put in a few clams, add some kosher salt, a few more clams, more salt, etc. Put a lid on the container, but don't seal it tight. Stick it in the fridge, and all the excess juice will drip into the outer container in a day or so. Toss the juice, or better yet, save it to put in your chum mix.
Now seal the container, or transfer the clams to a zip lock bag and store in the fridge. I have salted clams in my bait fridge downstairs from a year or more ago, and they are still good to go, if I should really need to use them in an emergency situation. Rumor has it, once salted, you can even leave them in your car for a week or two, and they won't smell or go bad.....though if it's July and 90 degrees, I wouldn't recommend that.
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