Two canals for two fish

I ventured out to the Trent & Mersey Canal to try and locate some of it's Zander.  The result was inconclusive as I failed to find any fish in the stretch I tried, although there are Zander in the canal.  There was quite alot of slimy weed around on the bottom, so I wonder if it put them off this area as it looked perfect otherwise with lots of overhanging vegetation. Either that or they just were not interested in my offerings ?

Lots of cover but where are the Zander?

I packed up early and headed back to the Coventry Canal instead to get my Zander fix for the week. 

I landed two fish in a short 2 hour spell, the first an emaciated fish that I reckon would have been a good four or five pounds had it not had such an empty concaved belly.  Not sure what was wrong with it but I got the feeling it was on its last legs, it seemed very listless, maybe just an old fish?  As it was, it only weighed 2lb 8oz being in such a sorry state.



Only 2lb 8oz but a long fish



The second  fish was a nice 3 pounder that fought well taking a perch head on a single hook rig. In between fish I had a few dropped takes that I put down to hook up issues. I'm not sure if it was the new traces I'd tied over the weekend or the fact I was using single hooks but I must have dropped four or five runs, one small fish dropping off at the net.  Last week I only had one fish spit the bait, but to get four or five drop off is a bit worrying.

3lb

 Fishing from 9 pm the bites dried up at about 11 pm, this was probably the end of the evenings feeding spell as I tried moving the baits around to pick up the shoal again but couldn't induce any further action.