... You're psyched to be out there at 5am, sun rising, and fish just waiting to be caught.  You've spent over 1000 hours on bassresource.com, and have learned so much, you feel like you can crush LMB at any lake or pond in the world, at a moments notice.  

You find a nice point where you think some bass might be.  You make your first cast with whatever bait you love to start the day in whatever conditions you happen to be fishing and....

NOTHING!

You make a second cast.  You're twitching or jerking, or crankin', or flippin, or whatever and again... NOTHING!  

1.  How long in terms of casts, or time,  do you keep fishing that same spot with that same bait?

2.  If after that certain period of time, you still catch nothing, do you leave that spot, or do you try yet another, different bait?

3.  If you stay and use another bait and still get nothing, how do you know if it's correct to leave and go to another spot, as opposed to either throwing a different color bait, or changing baits alltogether for the third time?

Sometimes I feel I'm "On fish" but using the wrong color/bait/ or presentation, and I waste lots of casts trying different baits when I'm not "on fish" at all..... I think,,

Todd

Or...maybe you are not taking in the weather conditions; the water color; the bottom; the size of the bass; and if there are any bass in the pond.

However, to answer you questions in my humble opinion:

1.  I would cast the first bait, in a fan pattern, all over the area. Starting with a buzzbait and followed with a top water such as a Spook or a Pop-R bait.  Then, I would try a crankbait and then a spinnerbait followed by a wacky rigged Senko and lastly the Texas rigged finesse worm.  And don't forget your shaky head rig, too.

It is not a specific number of casts, but the number of casts to cover the entire territority a number of times.  Keep changing baits until you can find what they are seeking.

2.  I would leave the spot if I had not gotten a bite or caught small dinks and look for another area to fish.

3.  See number 1 above.  You have to try your different baits. You may have to "scale down" to a smaller size bait, too.  Or different color.  Or different technique.  The fish will tell you what they want sooner or later.

Remember, pond fishing can be fun but it is also challenging as we do not have maps of the ponds nor of their bottom.  We do not know how healthy and wise the bass population is or what their favorite food is during the morning, day and evening.

On the pond I fished this past weekend the retired security guard told me to throw a Mepps Number 2 with a red tail.  It seems they love these baits.  

The guy who fishes the pond all the time told me to use a plastic minnow fished like a crankbait.  He caught one dink and one 1-pounder while I was there.

At my local pond I know they like Senkos fished wacky plus Rat-L-Traps and crankbaits.  For some reason, they do not like spinnerbaits or pointers.  Go figure?  I also know that the pond's bottom is full of dead leaves and shaky head rigs do not work in the muck.

At a client's pond in Maryland they kill Senkos and Zoom finesse worms plus crankbaits.  I caught one on a spinnerbait this spring and that's it for spinnerbaits. But it has taken me over a year to figure all this out on the ponds I fish on a regular basis.  They like a silver with black back Pop-R but will only strike at a buzzbait and not take it.

So you have to try different lures and places to fish since we do not know the bottom composition or structures on the bottom that can hold bass.

This is the challenge of bass fishing, be it a pond, lake or river.

Once you unlock the secret pleaes PM me so I can use it, too.