ESPN

When the bite gets tough, there are two common schools of thought. The one frequently offered up by tournament anglers is to move fast, cover water and find the fish that are biting.

The other is to hunker down on a proven spot and be there when the window of opportunity opens.

While the first stems from obvious time constraints and the second assumes that you have a confidence spot at your disposal, there is a hybrid of these two theories that might be the best option yet. Instead of making it a black-and-white issue between running or staying put, a better choice may be to find a limited area that offers a diverse selection of water depth, cover, structure and forage. In other words, a zone where you can move around and sample different presentations.

Obviously, you'll have to make some concessions depending on what the body of water has to offer, but the goal is to find a workable area, then learn as much about it as possible as the day goes on. In these situations, it's all about taking what the water will give you, which means you'd better have enough rods ready to cover the entire water column. From breaking fish to bass buried in cover, this is Junk Fishing 101.

To be sure, you need to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate the prevailing conditions through casual observation and sonar, plus you'll probably want some bottom-oriented lures — such as a Carolina rig, a jig, a split shot rig or drop shot setup — to more accurately assess bottom composition.

But if you can maintain your mental focus and listen to what the fish (and conditions) are telling you, you might just catch a few. At the very least, you will most likely learn more about this one section of water than what you know about a dozen other spots you regularly fish.

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