slhallow river, dealing with algae covered bottom

[Norm M]

 My home river is on the shallow side and suffers from intense algae growth on the bottom in some stretches due to the influx of lawn and farm chemicals.  Mostly I deal with it by fishing lures such as ratlebaits, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, flukes and sluggos that can be fished above bottom .

  I have also used an adjust a bubble with wacky or nose hooked cigar [senko type] worms  However due to the uneven nature of river bottoms this rig became fouled fairly often . The one worm that fouled the least was a Berkley heavy weight nose hooked .

 

 I have been experimenting with different things and have found one that I like because it catches fish and keeps the fouling to a minimum . I  use an unweighted 5/0 extra wide gap hook and rig a fat ika with the skinnier end with the skirt on the front of the hook and the fatter end on the back of the hook. I have found that pulling the eye of the hook into the ika helps reduce fouling. The thing about rigging it this way is that the heavier, fatter end of the ika on the bottom of the hook makes the rig ride tail down.  When it bounces on the bottom it doesn't collect much if any algae and the top of the rig stays fairly algae free riding on a bit of an upward angle .

 

 The downside is that you have to lead your target area more than usual as it takes a bit for the rig to start hitting bottom. Well at least in my river in flows around 2,000 to 3.000 cfs .  I could add pieces of nails to the bottom of the ika to get it down quicker or in heavier flows. That is more stuff to carry and rig so I don't do that unless necessary due to flow rate. In the conditions I have been using it in lately the fish show a definite preference for the rig without the added weight .