What's the lenght of time you  allow for each bait while searching for fish? 

5 min, i will rotate about 5-7 rods when searching for fish, sometimes i make only about 5-10 casts with each before rotating to ensure i am putting different baits in front of potential active fish...

 

Mitch

If I'm searching for fish at a spot I have a history with, I may go as little as half an hour. On the other hand, if I'm using the bait as a search tool on a piece of structure I'm not familiar with, I may stick with it for as much as a couple of hours if it's a large piece of structure, but in that case I'm looking for more than fish.  I'm looking for irregularities as well as fish and if I'm getting good feedback from the lure, it's worth the extra time.

If I'm searching for fish, it means I'm moving around a lot.  I usually stick with a combination of four or five baits that have different uses (crawling bottom, covering water, working brush, topwater, etc) and select appropriately as I encounter specific structure/cover.  I usually change location before I change a lure.  The baits I use to cover water (cranks mostly) have the highest propensity for being swapped out, but I try to give them a solid 50-100 casts unless there's something fundamentally wrong with the approach.

I search for bass with my sonar unit, no set time as to how long to stay with specific lure types. If I have confidence with a certain lure may stay with it for several hours, usually try a few other types before leaving fish I metered.

Tom

This depends on A LOT. I will go anywhere from 10-100 casts. Changing up technique every 5-20 casts. Sometimes it isn't the bait but the technique. Today for instance I only had an hour to fish so every bait got 10-15 mins. Tomorrow I have a lot more time and will bring multiple poles, and will fish two at a time. I usually allow my top water to sit near a current for awhile because if I'm fishing the bottom with a constant retrieve and I miss a top water blow up. No big deal because that worked and I'll move to that. So really it all depends. Also tournaments are much different.

However when I move to fishing the top water I will use only that^

A very good tournament fisherman I know in sofla has a system - he fishes a bait/technique for 1 hr. then switches -

I go until the doubt enters my head. The second your fishing with one bait and thinking about another you'll never fish the one on your line to its potential so switch em out.

Seriously!

If I'm casting to structure in say 15' of water with a 1/4 oz T-rig I'll give it seconds to hit bottom & then let it sit for 30 seconds before I move it. Even with spinnerbaits & cranks I'm seldom burning em. My flipping, pitching, & punching is S-L-O-W & only using jigs, creature, or craws.

Y'all fishing way to fast!

Seriously!

If I'm casting to structure in say 15' of water with a 1/4 oz T-rig I'll give it seconds to hit bottom & then let it sit for 30 seconds before I move it. Even with spinnerbaits & cranks I'm seldom burning em. My flipping, pitching, & punching is S-L-O-W & only using jigs, creature, or craws.

Y'all fishing way to fast!

That's pretty much my thought too.

Rather than running-and-gunning with the electric motor, I anchor-down with the Talon at every holding site.

The spot is then fan-cast from surface to bottom, and the time involved is purely circumstantial,

The time spent will depend on the area, depth, cover and fishing action, it might be 5 minutes or it might be an hour.

 

Roger