It changes season to season... year to year... sometimes day to day..... it's about current ( as in time oriented) patterens what works in a specific area.. patterens/tides that worked in June, may no longer apply in September... next spring it may change again...the only way to nail it down is to get out and fish...unfortunatly , where I fish... it is not like the vineyard .. where fish are stacked like cord wood waiting to jump on your plug
.. there are times.. especialy early in the season and in the dead of summer.. if you dont fish eels
.. you go fishless..it's just the cold hard facts... even in 3' of water....
this season is a good example of fish changing patterens.. I have a section of beach I fish.. ( Slip and the Professor can back this up) the entire incoming tide will produce, but once the tide tops off... game over... in years past, it's been only the first hour then they disappear... other years the top and first two of the drop...that section of beach remains pretty much unchanged over the last 20 years.. it all depends on bait that is available,,, the river also had some quirks this season... in a certain area, the last hour of the incoming and the first two of the drop produced fast and furious.. after that.. it's curtains...in the past it has always been the last two of the drop.. this pattern hels all spring, summer into the early fall...only experimentation and time on the water can truely point you in the right direction..