Listers,

What do you use to "bird dog" an area when fishing from the shore? How do you determine if an area is worth spending an hour on? I can't help feeling that my luck would improve if I move somewhere else.

Any help appreciated.

-SRS

SRS,
I think you might want to rethink some of your bass fishing strategies. The only time I would ever consider using a lure just to locate fish would be pre-fishing for tournaments where I was covering lots and lots of water with the trolling motor on a high speed.
Fishing from shore a more methodical approach is going to catch you many more fish. Bass do school up but by in large, on small bodies of water, you are better off walking the bank and casting towards structure, drop offs, points, whatever looks good. The only time I would spend an hour on a spot would be if I could see big fish, or if I was catching fish from the minute I walked up and they continued to bite (pretty rare). If I throw on a point for 10 minutes and don't catch anything on two or three different baits, I move on.
Mix up your baits, bring two rods if you can. Throw a spinnerbait on one for the first couple casts, then switch to a 7" worm or a 5 or 6 inch senko. If it's rocky and deep try a crankbait. If there's lots of moss and weeds you might try a buzzbait or a frog. No bites in the first few casts? Try something else and move on.

Good fishin.

Well , kind of disagree with the areas that i fish. I would porobobly never spend an hour in on spot at berryessa or clearlake and stuff. but at chabot....especially in the winter , i can spend 3-4 hours just wormin the same spot. it has worked pretty well too. When i caught my biggest bass I had been fishing the same spot for about 40 min. but i guess i rarely spend more than 15 min. per spot when its not winter.
tight lines
Ryan

I'm with Swimbait, 5 min each for 2-3 baits that are appropriate for the visible and/or inferable conditions and it's down the bank I go for bass. For other active species (Trout, crappie...) I might double the time limit but not usually. On Catfish under 5# I try to move every time I have a 1/2hr fishless stretch. For Cats over 5# with a live bait, I usaully will wait upto 2 hrs., but they're the exception.
As for "bird dog" lures for bass look at lures that are versatile and moderately conspicuos that can be worked fast or medium to cover a fairly large amount of water. I like a 4" Kalins grub on a 1/4oz darter jig head, a 3-5" minnowbait (Rapala) that can be straight-pulled or twitched, and a weedless spoon (Johnson's Silver Minnow). With these three I can quickly eliminate dead water, fishing over, around or through nearly anything.
I hope this helps.

Tight lines,
Wade

The new issue of Western Outdoors mag has a good article on throwing topwater lures as a "bird dog" both pre tourney or recreational fishing. Check it out, pretty good info.