Filamentous Algae

[Gotfish?]

Also known as moss, hair algae, elephant snot, etc. How do you fish it?

Topwater, weightless plastics, swim jig, frogs, shallow crankbaits, weedless swimbaits, heavy jigs and fish right in it, fish outside it in the deep water (>20'), ....?

Sometimes it will be all the way to the top, floating in mats. I hate picking that stuff off my lures. It is often stuck on grass or submerged brush but sometimes there are just long strands in the water.

[JWall]

Great question. I will be watching this thread as its full on algae these days. I try to go the weightless or minimal weight route but just about every unbit cast is a clean job. Topwater or busters higher in the water column solves the problem if you are doing that, but I’m usually not unless there’s busters. I do throw my heavier bottom stuff outside the tree line but even then many cast come back slimed. There’s a few times I’ve pulled up grass without algae. I’m thinking heavy stuff that blows past that to the bottom might be the ticket. But algae is another issue altogether.

[DarkShadow]

Our local pond used to get treated with a blue dye that limits the amount of vegetation growth during the summer months. But, because of budget issues, it has been left to fend for itself, and this lake is now full of this snot.

A few days ago, as I'm walking around it, I see a peculiar sight. There's a clump of this snot, almost the size of a bowling ball, and I see a frickin' tail sticking out of it. As i got closer, I confirmed that it was a bass who had ostriched himself in this ball of snot. I tossed a bait in there, and low and behold, he ate it.

But, it's been tough fishing this crap. The only way I'm getting bit is to fish the edges, but I have yet to find anything that works that I can chuck directly into it. I assumed bass stayed out of this stuff, but that one fish that i saw near the shore hiding half its body in the snot made me realize they may be in it further out.