how long do you guys fish an area knowing theres nothing there before moving on to the next area?

If I "know " there is nothing there, why even fish it?

oh wait... what i meant was.. you fishing an area and finding out theres nothing there before moving on.

Generally I wait 15-20 minutes. Lately I've been finding myself staying in one spot until I don't see or hear anymore fish in that area. Like the other day I went and I could literally see some monster blues and gars surfacing and they stayed in my area for awhile and then I could see them as they were leaving. They all left at the same time going the same direction.

Too bad everytime I threw my line out I got hung up or I woulda brought one of those blues in.

Typically I fish in an area for 10 t 30 minutes and during that time I don't get any hit, I'll move on to the next area. This pertaining to using artificial baits.

I usually switch different baits around between live and artificials. Depends on the place and what im going for. I usually fish for like 10 minutes per lures/bait. Time goes by fast when your fishing. If im going for catfish I usualy wait 20-30 minutes in an area then move. Crappie and Bass I fish one place for 5 minutes. If your just bank fishing and just going for anything that bites... just go home in 30 minutes or youll just be wasting your time.

Or learn to use chum and bring the fish to your location.

What are you fishing for?
Catfish- I will stay a ling time, 2 hours or more unless I have quick access to another nice spot.

If I'm fishing for bass or something with artificials not so long. If I am convinced that there has to be something in the area I will stay 15minutes or so.... more or less depending on my confidence in the spot or how many fish I've caught anywhere on the lake that day.

If you are bank fishing you may have limited spots to fish.
When I go to the LOP spillway I usually stay 2 to 4 hours in the same spot. I can always catch bream there. Can usually catch a few cat fish. Also has bass, hybrids, and sandies at times. Instead of changing spots I change tactics and fish for another species.

If you have a creek to fish that yo can walk beside or wade, yo might try chumming several spots then fish your way back to where you started.

You really are kind of limited to the area yo have to fish from the bank.

By the time you try different baits at any spot it should be at least 30 minutes before moving on.

I usually fish local ponds so I dont have too many places to try at one spot, usually no cover to fish. If there is cover and I know there has to be fish there, I will throw everything in the tackle box at them. If there is no cover I just walk the bank and make enough casts to cover the area, if I dont get any hits I will change lures and continue on.

2-3 hours wait for blue cat, striper, hybrid, carp, buffalo, gar
15-30 minutes wait for channel cat, LM bass, crappie, yellow, white
1-5 minutes wait for perch, brim

Sounds good.
It really depends on what you define as 1 area. One person may view an 'area' much smaller than another.

Some ponds cover is not as obvious, bit there is cover. Anything that is different. Docks, depth changes, gravel changes. etc,

The key is drink one beer, no bite move,

drink one beer, no bite move,
so on so on.

Then when you find a place that is biting drink a six pack.

PS
You should have a designated rower with this type of fishing.

I only fish from the bank. I invested in a Humminbird smartcast wireless fishfinder and tie the transponder to my fishing pole and cast it out to find fish and structure. This saves me alot of time finding good fishing spots instead of just guessing. If I see fish in the structure and no bites I go home and come back latter. It is a good investment for a bank fisherman in my book.