Shad?

If you find a bunch of shad, in an area that has good structure
and cover, do you stay with it even if you are not catching anything yet?
(And for how long?)

Is it better to stay with bait and a good area and wait for them to “show up”
Or go looking for a different area?

Not Tourny fishing, just fun fishing.

I'll trade you all my knowledge for a gallon of jalapeno cream soup and a blackened shrimp po boy! LOL!

Depends of how the bait are set up and what kind of structure you're finding them on. If there's bait fish on structure (points/humps/creek channel bends) or cover (grass lines/tree lines/docks) there's usually gonna be some bass nearby. If I fish an area for 15 to 20 minutes and don't get bit or at least see some activity I move on and check the spot at different times of the day. If they are just out in the middle of the lake or a giant flat roaming, unless you're fishing sandbass/hybrids that chase the bait rather than ambush feed I wouldn't mess with those at all.

My limited knowledge. Now ship me some soup...PLEASE!!