It don't make sense to me why I need to run all over the place looking for fish... when on my way somewhere far away I'm running over lots of fish... The more I run the less I get to fish

If you are keyed in already, then yes, the run is worth it to get to your spot. But if you don't have a spot, just drop the tm and let them tell you if it was a good idea or not.

You will save a lot of fuel.

If your interest is in fishing and enjoying the day; by all means start in the first place you are seeing fish.

If your interest is finding the best 3 shallow water spots on the lake that will always produce quality fish for you; then you will have to make many runs and fish the whole lake to accomplish that. You could get lucky and run across one of those spots early in your search; but it has been my experience to fish 60 spots just to find one excellent spot.

You can do the math on the number of spots to acquire the best 3 and that is just shallow water. Next comes mid range then the deep water spots.

Now I will say this I do fish a lot of spots but I don't go more than 3 miles from the boat ramp

3 miles is a lot of spots. I could do 60 spots counting both sides of the lake in 3 miles. You should find one of the best spots within that range. Then move to another boat ramp and do the same thing. Keep moving until you have covered most of the lake.

Search the back 1/3 of all the coves and creeks first. Pay close attention to your paper map before you go out that day and pick those spots. Look for bends in the creek channels near the back of the coves. Fish the shallow on both sides of these bends, the inside of the bend and both sides of the cove. They will be great producers this fall as the bait migrates to the backs of both.

Thank you Mr.Harper that helps me

When I lived in Louisiana I had a Bass boat and a little one man Bass Hunter. With the bass boat I'd go into a cove, fish a little and move on. With the Bass Hunter I'd go into a cove and fish the entire cove. I caught a lot of fish that I wouldn't have taken the time to catch in the bass boat. Sometimes it's better to find a spot and really fish it instead of spending time running all over the lake.

Sometimes you can fish all day in an area, sometimes you have to move. Simple
I have fished tourneys where I can catch a limit in an hour in one cove (last weekend), and I have fished tourneys where I would catch A fish an hour and have to move a lot.

Just so we know what you are driving , what boat and motor do you own ?