I'm constantly "modifying" my technique and lures to try to establish a pattern. Each fish caught should put you closer to finding the pattern at that moment. If we get locked into just one technique, chances are we're giving up fish. I think the harderst part for me is to leave an area that just feels right, but your not getting hit. I know early on, I used to stay waaaaay to long in an area. Think back of a cove, or big flat, etc. not a single doc or point etc.
During my first few years on the lakes, I though we were fishing pretty efficiently, and did a good job catching what we could out of a given area. Then one day our club was holding an open tournament, and I did some fun fishing with an old vet. He was fishing water faster with a shakey head then I did with a crank. I honestly thought he was trying to back seat fish me at first he was going so fast, then we started getting a few bites, then midway down that same bank - he pulled up the trolling motor and we took off. He had picked up a pattern, and his experience told him where the fish were. I was still trying to figure out how he was fishing the worm so fast lol. [and he was right, we got into better numbers at the next spot and he did slow down a bit there]
The point being, if you are on familiar waters you can get by with fishing an area much more quickly than you can on new waters because you have years (in his case about 30 some on that lake) of experiences to draw from. I've also found that unless you are a pure powerfisherman, most of us spend too long in an area if we are looking for the best 5 fish. Now, if you are fishing just to catch fish - slow down and pick apart an area, nothing wrong with it if you are getting bit. But if there's money on the line, wasting time in unproductive waters is just wasting time.
I didn't really answer your question so I guess for me if I'm getting no hits with search baits, I leave an area quickly (now). If I do get a few hits, then we will slow down and start working an area and building out a pattern and changing baits quite often to try to dial in the bite. Each move from then on is an attempt to improve on that pattern. If we're catching them from under docs, then I will buzz right by a big weed bed and just cast a spinner a few times as we pass it just in case, then at the next dock we will slow down and fish it hard. Unless of course we pick up bites in the grass...
The biggest mistake I caught myself donig early on when trying to find fish was that I would go from one great looking place, maybe a cove with a defined channel and lots of lay downs and not catch anything, to another great looking place...with the same set up. If they are not holding in a cove with "X" structure and cover, then why go to another cove with the same thing?
