Unproven theory

So I had this idea that the bigger perch would be by the reeds. The reeds grow halfway across the canal, so the boats are pushed into a narrow section. Narrow means deeper, and in my experience, deeper means more and bigger perch. Surely this stretch would throw up some bigger fish?

In the 100m stretch leading up to the reeds, I caught 20-25 perch, all under 4ozs. All right down the edge. It was a-fish-a-chuck.

Upon reaching the reeds, I covered every inch of water. I spent a good hour trying out all kinds of lures, slow retrieve, fast retrieve, bump along the bottom, sink and draw, vertical jig, the lot. Result from 1 hour's thorough searching = a single perch taken on a 3" curlytail.
 

I was confused. Still, it was a nice evening just to be out fishing, and at least I'd caught some.
 

Heading back under the bridge to the car, I thought I'd have a few quick drops opposite some moored boats.

The next three casts produced two pike and another greedy perch. First pike was about 2.5 pounds.

The second was a fish of about 5-6lbs and took the lure as I was lifting it out of the water. It put up a crazy fight, tail-walking across the canal several times. I didn't think I was going to get it in, because I could see the lure was in one side of the mouth, and the line was coming out of the other. Fortunately the flourocarbon held, and so I ended the session on a high with the biggest fish of the day.