Went to Lake Bonham Saturday , guess I started fishing the wrong pattern , off the bat. Found a point in 8' of water shad hitting the surface , so started with a top water several different types nothing . Went to flooded grass frog, jig, worm, & chatter bait nothing . Late morning started dragging a Carolina rig -- got ZEROED
Talked with local said he had a rough day also.

Question is - Wondering if my thinking is off - let the lake dictate what to do, shad hitting surface TOP WATERS or should have I went to flooded grass with plastic is what I was thinking driving up there ?

Ive been up there a couple times in the last few weeks. I've caught a couple of good fish but no numbers. All fish have been caught in 12+ ft. Basically anywhere I'd want to fish shallow, I just went deep and paralleled the depth changes with c-rig and deeper cranks. Caught some fish on each, but got this 4.63 last night on a squarebill. Huge head and skinny fish. And to answer your question, I've seen the shad on the surface also and caught 0 around a it.

You did the right thing. Fish how your eyes and ears tell you first.
Fishing with a previously determined plan and not adapting, deviating, or changing due to conditions will not work most of the time.