I'm on a lake right now where the water is low, and the entire place is surrounded by a ring of gently sloping muddy shoreline, anywhere from 5-20 feet wide. Coons are going crazy with the mussels, there's about a bazillion mussel shells all over the place, with coon tracks everywhere. The coons are obviously there, but aren't really being funneled, they can roam all over the shore.
What's the best way to set this up to catch these coons? I made some PVC pipe sets (visible in the pic), but I'm not too confident in them. Due to the shore being pretty featureless, I just made them in random spots where I could reach the waters edge without sinking in.

Keep making sets that have eye appeal to them and the coons will check them out, remember "KISS"

Use cement two hole blocks as Bob Noonan described in FFG.

I would set the pipe in the water, about 8-12" from shore, with the opening facing the bank and the trap between the pipe and the bank, right under the elbow.

This is what I do and works well. Only put these types of sets facing the water for muskrat and beaver.

Another recommendation would be to cut some of that brush and make some trash pile type sets or dog proofs. I try not to get coon wet if i can help it.

With the right bait in the pipe they work great. Here's an old favorite. There were 6 pipes, the two still standing didn't make a catch that night, ended up with over 20 coons, a big beaver and coyote at this location that year. 5-6 checks. Coyote was in the pipe set right in the middle of the creek.

Do your pipes float away or how do you anchor/retrieve them?

Thanks for the advice.. I caught one little guy last night, plus another in a trail set, along with a beaver. I'll flip them around and see how that goes.

They are laying on the bottom of the creek, just outside the coons reach. You could see the one by the closest coon but the three upstream had the water muddied up. I have never lost a pipe and never anchored them. I don't put anything but the bait in the pipe so they don't hold air and float down stream. You could lose them though if you set on the edge of a deep drop off I guess. I have the best luck with a sticky wet fish based bait, just scoop the elbow in the jar and hold your hand over the end so the air pressure don't push the bait out and stick it in the water. Set your trap below the elbow 2" out from the pipe or 8" out if the water is over 10" deep, where their front feet will be floating up, so you can get a back foot.

I've used pipe sets for a few years now, today was the first time I d ever lost one. And that's only because the water was super muddy. If it clears up I'm sure I'll find it tomorrow.

I have done ok in that kind of situation using pieces of 4" or 6" black plastic tile or white PVC. Just lay it down at the shoreline or out 8n the shallow water. Mound up mud and weeds over it to resemble a little rat hut, bait and lure inside. Rats are very attracted to the white PVC. If you run slide wires remakes are easier. Dont over think it. If there any medium sized rocks you can just put some fish under one, squirt some fish oil on it. Quick, easy, effective.

This is probably a local variant thing to keep in mind but around here, you need to wire off the pipes to something as the creeks are deeper and faster flowing. Ive lost every one ive not wired after catching a coon. Which is why I've gone to portable pockets in these spots.

I recently learned of a set that works with flat banks. Get a 2-inch diameter piece of old branch 2-ft long. Cut horizontal grooves is it with a chain saw. Smear your paste bait in the grooves. Push/hammer the stick into the bottom with the trap in front of the grooves. Coon will work it until either caught or they get the paste bait out. Run trap out to deeper water.

Try treating it like trapping canines in a field. Anything that stands out, set it. I even have used dirt holes in areas like your picture.

I trapped a lot of farm pond years ago when the water was low. I would just take a stick and poke it in my homemade lure/bait mixture. Then I would poke the other end in the mud so the trap was in a foot or so of water, sticking up above the water about a foot also. I placed two traps about 6 inches from the stick on the shore side of the stick. Caught a bunch of coon that way. Seems when they are running the shore they would go out and investigate the lure/bait and almost always get caught.

In my book, it's called a PORTABLE POCKET SET with a special bracket that fits in the stake, making it, the set, the bait holder, the trap support and stake, all integrated into a single unit !

Problem solved where I come from !

Why do you think the Portable Pocket was developed ?

A) Flat muddy shorelines !