You hit a new spot you've heard good things about, throw everything in your tackle box at em and get skunked.

Next time you head out do you go back to that same spot to try again or do you move on?

If you move on when if ever will you go back to that spot?

This is more of a question of mood and confidence over technique and conditions.

The fish were in the spot for a reason.
Figuring out what/why that reason was is what makes you a better fisherman.
There are multiple variables as to why you find fish hanging around in a certain area, and that has to do with time of year, weather, water temperature, baitfish, cover, etc. etc.
I would always give the spot a look, but figuring out why they were there in the first place is going to increase your odds elsewhere.

Bass feed on a time table when all the variables stay basically the same. As long as that food supply is there they will feed at certain times of the day and that can be more than once. When I have an area that I have picked because of the super irregular contours off shore and the hot spots on that area from the shallows to deep water; I will fish it 5 times before writing it off the list. Over a 5 day period fish the area at a different time each day. Start early after the top water bit somewhere close by at 8:00 then the next day at 10:00. Continue to come back on 2 hour intervals until you have given the area 5 chances to produce.

In developing your search, this is what I have observed over my 50 years of breaking the lakes down to find consistent fish. If you have 20 areas to work over the long hall fishing each of them on 5 different trips; only ONE of them will produce well enough for you to say that you have found one of the best areas on the lake. One is not good enough to work through all the conditions that the good Lord can throw at you. I want the three best that I can find; so I pick another 20 and then another, to locate my best 3. This can take upwards of a full year of hard fishing and scanning to accomplish this.

Not only do I want my 3 best areas; I want the 3 best Top Water Areas. Then I want the 3 best Mid-Range Areas and lastly you need 3 of the best Deep Structure Areas. Having the best 9 areas on the lake will set you up for many years to come. Saver each of these areas each time you work through them, only take what you get and never beat them up. Take care of your areas by not over fishing them and they will take care of you.

Great information!

Good advice Mr Harper!

And sometimes they just stop using a good spot. I had an incredible spot on Fork that produced for probably 7 or 8 years. Then one year they just stopped using it. Kept hitting it regularly every time I was on that side of the lake for years and they just were NOT there any more. This was a very good, deep water saddle between the mouth of two creek channels and near a main point. It was a great pre and post spawn area, and once the spawn was over it was generally good until water temps got in the 40's. I NEVER saw anyone else ever fishing it, so I don't think pressure drove them off of it. And you'd think even if that group/class of fish quit using it, wouldn't the newer class gravitate to it and replenish it? It's still a great piece of structure. Nope.

I know there were some saltwater spots I used to hammer them on and they are desert wastelands for fish now. I hear them talking on the sports show on the weekends about it. The area near McCollum Park in Trinity Bay is a place we used to fish in HS that the fish are not there anymore. I have found some spots in the river near my home that produced fish in the past that are VOID of fish now and it makes no sense. We have had some bad floods and it has torn a lot of stuff up but some of these places should still have fish, but they are gone. My son and a friend went last night and I sent them to a different spot as they told me they have not been catching anything. I asked where they have been going and as I suspected they are beating up an old oxbow lake that I dont even fish anymore that despite two hurricanes that put 35ft of water in these spots over a 8-10 day period, held fish for a period of time afterwards and it is empty and I mean empty now.

Yes, I'd try the spot again.

I'd hit it again. Sometimes you have to be patient and just slow down and work it out. I fish out of a float tube and that has taught me that patience is key. Once when I was in the tube I had a blinged out bass boat come ripping into a cove and the 2 yahoos on it made a dozen or so casts and one of the said "Nothing here, let's move on." When they came into the cove I had already caught 4 fish and by the time I left the cove I caught more than a dozen more. Often the fish are there, we just don't put the time in to find them.

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