Oil pan baffle

[dbaldwi3]

Before I damage the oil pan is there a preferred way to remove the oil pan baffle so as to clean out the sludge from below? In the book it simply states remove baffle. Also as a side note the previous owner used a bolt with a lock nut to hold oil pump in place as far as I can tell the damage was limited to damaging the threads on the bolt, no cracks in block thankfully. I will replace it with the correct pipe thread plug. Thanks in advance for any information!