More often than not, I'm a camper. But I can be happy to fish a stretch of bank too. I don't normally run and gun with the big motor. Just not my preferred style. I feel like I am probably missing more than I find when I do that.

I typically fish larger impoundments (1000 to 12,000 acres) in a trolling motored canoe with a basic 4” depthfinder.

I fish small in bigger water, I’m a slow moving train!

Marking fish or baitfish is first priority but I don’t just roam until that happens, starting first with where they “should be”.

I’ll fish a bank, channel and structure moving slowly (drift speed) until I hit upon a structure, point, cove or shoreline that produces. When it happens I drop an anchor for at least thirty minutes or until I’m sure the bite is gone, then chug on. 
Once I can repeat the previous bite I’ll move a bit quicker to find “that” area again.

Rinse and repeat.

In the kayak with a paddle and no electronics, you have to be more deliberate. You paddle to where you think they might be and cover that spot pretty well. I carry anywhere form 3-8 rods rigged with whatever I think they might want. I try whatever is appropriate for that spot. No bites, moving on.

I'm in a kayak.  my run and gun is usually, "let me try 50 feet this way..."

 

I can cover about 10 miles of water if I am feeling frisky, but in general I live with my decision to launch at a spot.  

My home lake is 200+ acres, lots of standing timber and brush piles. It's a newer lake, opening in 2018. Primary forage is bluegill and crappie. No live-bait is allowed. Water clarity is generally less than 1 foot. 

 

I rarely if ever see bait...and when I do, it's usually in or amongst the standing timber. Usually happens at certain points in spring and summer when water visibility is around two feet. Never have seen bait on the fish finders or side imaging. 

 

All that said, the lake is small enough that I can bypass a "spot," and come back to it.

 

I do like to camp on my favorite spots -- hit them first with fast moving baits: cranks, spinner-bait, etc. Then slow down and go finesse, or a t-rigged plastic. I finish up with a 1/16 oz. leadhead with 2.5" gulp minnow...that will catch LMB's, and panfish. 

1 hour ago, DaubsNU1 said:

My home lake is 200+ acres, lots of standing timber and brush piles. It's a newer lake, opening in 2018. Primary forage is bluegill and crappie. No live-bait is allowed. Water clarity is generally less than 1 foot. 

 

I rarely if ever see bait...and when I do, it's usually in or amongst the standing timber. Usually happens at certain points in spring and summer when water visibility is around two feet. Never have seen bait on the fish finders or side imaging. 

 

All that said, the lake is small enough that I can bypass a "spot," and come back to it.

 

I do like to camp on my favorite spots -- hit them first with fast moving baits: cranks, spinner-bait, etc. Then slow down and go finesse, or a t-rigged plastic. I finish up with a 1/16 oz. leadhead with 2.5" gulp minnow...that will catch LMB's, and panfish. 

8 year old new small lake with decaying wood that consumes dissolved oxygen that should nearly over by now. How big are the LMB and Crappie are you catching? In a smaller lake the Crappie will school wherever minnows are located. Crappie tend to stick up vertically easy to locate on sonar. 
The LMB bass however don’t tend to move around very much and probably stick around where the Bluegill are or near the Crappie. This isn’t a run and gun type lake, it’s more of a saturation presentation thoroughly working over areas you have confidence in.

Tom

I tend to camp out— for better or worse. I like finding a good spot and I tend to stick around, sometimes longer than I should. Most of my fishing is in tournaments these days, so while I do tend to fish faster than while fun fishing, I still try to thoroughly fish the area.
 

One thing I notice is that there are many tournaments that I place higher than others that catch more fish than me because I catch larger than average fish. 
 

I’ve been trying to get better with my time management. A lot of times I will tell myself “15 more minutes without a bite and I have to find something else.” Usually, 14 minutes in I will catch a few dinks that string me along for another hour. 
 

The right answer is probably to move to a new location if you are fishing a tournament, even though I do not follow my own advice. While fun fishing, sometimes it pays off to wait. Doesn’t it seem like when you are fun fishing or not in a rush you catch some good fish and then on tournament day you don’t catch nearly the same quality during practice? Might that be because you are not rushed and slowly dissecting the area? Maybe. 

If I see bait but no bass on the scope, I may still fish a nearby weed edge, brush, etc. Or more likely than that run some swimming presentation a few feet off the bottom to see if I can pull one up. But not for long. Slowly learning that I'm better off moving fast with the scope. 

 

If I'm not scoping and I'm on a spot that "should" hold fish I might try a couple of swimming presentations and something on the bottom and then keep moving. My lake has a lot of miles of weed edge, and I almost never wish I'd slowed down more. 

 

I'm mostly fishing for best 5 or one big fish, so ignoring the smaller fish is a better idea for me. 

 

One exception - at least on my lake when they get on the gill beds it is 100% worth the time to fish it very thoroughly - constantly reloading new fish, and a good shot at multiple big fish. 

 

I fish the Savannah River lakes mostly that are holding blueback herring baitfish which are nomadic.run and gun is more productive usually but I will camp out on a mother loaded point or pocket.i do like to take my time on bank runs in the creeks.lakes like Sinclair and Oconee I fish slower because they don’t have spots and blueback’s.

On 11/6/2025 at 11:08 AM, king fisher said:

Every DD bass I have caught has been on the first cast to a piece of cover or structure.  If I make a poor cast on the first cast I will stay until I feel I have made the best presentation I am capable of making.  I realize I miss many opportunities by not being patient and thoroughly working a good area over, but I also don't waste my time casting to empty water, or bass that don't like me.  I will come back to prime spots numerous times in a day to try a few more casts or a different lure.  Run and Gun is the road I have always been, on and I'm too old to change my ways.  Both methods work, but I simply have zero patience.    

Excluding the “DD” part of the quote this is me to a t. I’m fun fishing, not tournament fishing so I’m just looking to have a good time. Sitting on a sloping point staring at nothing and making repeated casts while waiting for the fish to show up is not my idea of a good time. I’ll leave and come back if I think the fish will be there or be eating there later. 
 

To the original question about seeing baitfish on live imaging, “it depends” is my answer. Open water roaming baitfish 20’ deep over 40’ of water is a common thing for me. I’ll look at the schools and if there are fish following or chasing then I’ll fish them. If not, then I’ll hit the high percentage spots nearby (rock piles are the norm here) to see if fish are down in them and eating. But I’m not working them thoroughly unless I see a fish come out after a bait or if I catch one. And even if I see one or more but they won’t eat a couple trusty things then I’m marking them and moving on. I’ll circle back later. 

Both! It depends on the time of year, what presentation I’m using and water level.    

It comes down to when to hold em and when to fold em.

Tom

It depends on the cover and structure in the area.  If the spot is featureless and shallow, then I will make a few casts and move on.  If the spot is deep and has a creek bed or rocks, and has vegetation on it, then I will spend some time there.

I’ll throw a little twist in the answer.  Here on tidal rivers, the tide dramatically affects bites.  Your options are to run the tide meaning you follow the tidal flow in or out for the best bite or you sit on a good spot and wait for the tide to be right.  It throws a lot of fishermen off if they have never fished tidal waters.  I have never seen fish shut down the way they do in tidal waters when the tide is not right. 

I’ll generally move on if I’m not getting any hits, especially where I fish, which is the Florida Everglades. Coming back around to the same spots often nets good results. All in the timing. An extreme example of this was LJ Brasher. He’d spend 2-3 days in his boat, relying on the feeding cycles to get his big hits, which seemed to work for him. Instead of going out for a few hours with the “hope” of timing things just right, he’d play it through day and night until the bass starting feeding. Bass are either on or off; just a matter of being staged in the right place when they’re “on”. 

I keep moving with the trolling motor set very, very slow, working the bank and shallows;  cast and crank, repeat.  Most others are dropping on shad balls 30-50 feet deep which is my least favorite method.  They are catching mostly spots and largemouth, while I catch mostly smallmouth who are crawdad hunting and not showing on FFS.  Interesting fact is that even when there are no shad around, those crawdad hunting smallmouth will not hesitate to grab a baitfish imitation that passes by.  

@TOXIC it is amazing how the tide turns on and off a bite. Not saying you can’t get them at the wrong time but, it is a light switch. 

I always feel like, with smallies at least, you just need to get that first one to go and then alot of times the school will fire. If I'm on a good spot I'll spend more time than I probably should on it, but I've just had too many times when on cast 25, the first fish hits and then I catch 5-6 more in a row.  

  But I will definitely switch up lures in those casts

On 11/7/2025 at 3:10 PM, WRB-2.0 said:

8 year old new small lake with decaying wood that consumes dissolved oxygen that should nearly over by now. How big are the LMB and Crappie are you catching? In a smaller lake the Crappie will school wherever minnows are located. Crappie tend to stick up vertically easy to locate on sonar. 
The LMB bass however don’t tend to move around very much and probably stick around where the Bluegill are or near the Crappie. This isn’t a run and gun type lake, it’s more of a saturation presentation thoroughly working over areas you have confidence in.

Tom

 

@WRB-2.0 excellent assessment! I agree.

 

NE Game and Parks prohibits live bait...and they made interesting regulations. No harvest of northern pike is allowed. There is an 8-inch maximum length limit on bluegill and redear sunfish, and a 10-inch maximum length limit on crappie. LMB's under 21" must be released.

 

I am catching 3-4 lb bass, and did crack the 5 lb barrier. Brother landed a very nice 38" pike, and has a Master Angler crappie (15+ inch). There are good fish in this lake. Last summer I found two dead pike floating in the shallows...each weighing over 11 lbs.

 

It's relatively shallow, mostly under 10' deep. Creek channels down to 16', and near the dam around 20' max. 

 

I really like fishing this lake. NEG&P created 25-30 brush-piles that I have been able to find and mark. Not many anglers fish them...it's so easy to fish the standing timber. 

 

Earlier this summer I was fishing a brush pile...watched a young kid in a kayak fishing standing timber in about 15' of water. This wasn't a fishing kayak by any means. He landed a nice LMB and was hooting and hollering. I talked to him later that morning...this was his first time ever fishing in his Mom's kayak...throwing a lead-head and minnow...4-1/2 lb bass. Excellent work!