Well, it's time to be creative. You might carefully check out wading --
a lake I am thinking of you can wade several feet beyond the muck and
still be in thigh deep water.

You could try raking some open areas in the dense muck -- this will
spook the fish -- but come back and fish the openings later.

Some muck fishermen tie as much as 1 ounce on their rigs to really punch
through the muck -- but that can be slow work.

Snagless critter lures such as sum frogs, scum rats and such can be drug
across the surface of the stuff ---- often dragging to the edge and
then letting it slide off will draw a strike.

Finally, think about a belly boat or float tube -- $75 and you are out
beyond the muck and dont need to worry much about the depth.






In Richard Berke wrote:
What do you recommend from shore when there's dense algae/weed mats
close to most of the accessible shore?

If I cast past them to the open water, then I'm retrieving back into
the slop and getting stuck. If I try, I get a glob of weed stuff even
when rigged 'weedless'; it gathers at the weight/hook-eye/top of worm
area.

Should I try a heavy enough weight (1/4 oz? 3/8?) to get a worm to
sink through it? If so, then what? I can't pull through the mats and
keep the lure in the water and along the bottom.

Do you have success casting weightless thick stick worms on top of the
weeds, and twitch retrieve them? I've tried this, but never had a
bite so far. I may be way too quick, but I think maybe there aren't
bass under the areas I'm trying.

Are there some good articles to help with 'slop' conditions you can
point me to?

Thanks,
Richard Berke
Columbia, MD