Hey all,

I'm new here to this forum and need some advice.  I have an irrigation canal that I have been fishing for a couple of years. It is about 20 feet wide and about 4-6 feet deep.  There is lots of vegetation in this canal.  I used to be very successful with topwater poppers but the vegetation has grown and made it hard to use the popper.  The problem is that I have had very bad luck last year and this year so far.  It is frustrating because there are plenty of fish feeding on baitfish and you can see them splashing all over the place.  I have tried a buzzbait, a popper (even though it is not really effective with the vegetation getting in the way), a plastic frog and been really unsuccessful.  What do you guys think i should do?

T-rig fluke or white tube. Weedless imitates bait fish

I like the idea of a fluke too, but I wouldn't rule out other soft plastics either.  One thing you may want to try is a sizmic poppin toad.  It's a soft plastic frog like a horny toad, but it floats and has a popping head like a topwater popper.

Hey thanks for the input guys.  I'm not to good with a T-rig but I know that if I want to catch bass I'm gonna have to learn how to fish with it.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Don't give up on the frogs or rat type baits.  Fish them over the thickest part of the weeds.  Try different retrieves. Use heavy line or braid.  Nothing better than a hog smashing through the thick stuff to grab a frog ;D  

Try to stay calm enough to wait until you feel the fish on the other end. ;D  It is not always as easy as it sounds :

Okay guys,

I tried some baby brush hogs as well as flukes.  I really sucked with the baby brush hog and only felt one bite that i missed.  I really need to practice with the T-rig.  I think I will try to use it every time I go out for about an hour.  Anyways, after no Luck with the plastics I went back with the popper and caught a few small fish.  Thanks for the help and I will try to master the T-rig.

Use a Zoom Horny Toad and fish it weightless.  It by itself is heavy enough and doesn't need any weights added to it.   Just rig it weedless, cast out, and hang on.

If you are fishing heavy cover than there is no choice but to learn how to t-rig a worm.  I think the horney toad is also a good suggestion, you won't have trouble detecting a strike with one of those!