Deep, shallow or in between, from my experience thus far, I think the hardest thing when I think about it is getting started, accepting the change and the wait of finally setting the hook on that first change in structure bite.
Where does one begin to look, what am I looking for, how will I know when I find it, what do I do when I find it, questions just seem to lead lead to more questions.
Simplifed, if one can do such a thing, you can break it down to one important aspect, that aspect to me is change, distinct or subtle, it's most always the change in structure that will render all the answers your looking for, put aside all the terminology for now and simplify everything, the rest can and will come at a later date while you are at the beginning of your underwater journey into the unknown.
All the looking, all the time spent casting at things that aren't visible to the naked eye with exception to the waters surface is a truly tuff task to overcome at first, especially when that tree laying up close to the shore just keeps calling your name and your not getting bit, you begin to wonder if that graph of yours is lying to ya, it's one of the hardest things in the world to do sometimes IMO, to break from our patterns of fishing visible cover to expand your fishing prowess, we are after all creatures of habit, it's not until you finally catch that very first one that you truly begin to understand the changes, shucks, while we are on the subject of change, even you yourself will undergo a change as well in some form or another, maybe your approach takes on a change, a transformation if you will, a totally different mindset in the way you approach and fish an area, depth becomes irrelevant to you and becomes relevant to only that of your target or the species you chose to hunt, no longer will you look at the vast open water and simply see the emptiness of the surface and feel the sensation of being overwhelmed, a change has taken place not only under the surface but above it as well, you can now begin to envision your bait slowly falling beneath the surface, you can almost feel the fish watching it as it falls toward them, to me it was that first one that was the hardest one but one worth the wait.
Once that first one has landed the change is inevitable, a new journey begins, the excitement of fishing is rekindled in a new and different light, again and again you find yourself looking at and for different variables, exploring new and uncharted water, re-exploring already visited waters, you begin to realize what it means when they say that only ten percent of a body of water will hold ninety percent of the fish, it's that exciting moment to find or see an area the size of a compact car in something like a 10,000 acre impoundment for the first time light up your sonar screen, to see a pattern on your sonar screen that looks like a big bowl of spaghetti on the bottom, to think that your fishing that pin drop of an area with a minuscule artificial bait, yes, it becomes that specific and at times, just as simplistic.
Change, that one word, at least for me, that sums up everything, fishing the changes has changed my fishing forever and I can't wait to see what it has in store for me and the rest of us !!