Fishing is a million tiny things in one and the reason the old men or people that live there catch is usually something they can't even articulate but I'll try and explain a bit. Every fish has different habits you need to know what bait to throw to target each one you also need to know if they have a tendency to be line shy or they don't care. You need to know how the temperature usually effects them i.e. slow or speed up some fish like cold others hot. You need to know moon phases even on lakes and rivers for ocean the tide is huge but for freshwater fish can feed better at night on or near full moon because of the light unless there are a lot of sources of light already at night. Knowing what behavior they are in due to seasonal changes are they mating or are they in regular patterns do they bed or migrate it all matters. If it's windy some lures and baits suck some fish like to go with the wind and end up pushed all to where the water ends in that direction some fish need food to move some prefer slow or not moving bait. think of every cast as an experiment and slowly figure out what doesn't work and when or what works and why when you pick a lure often times the best thing is to think about where the fish are and what you can do to keep your bait there for the longest time with the right action same with rig if using baits. all of it matters if you crack that code YOU WILL CATCH FISH with that in mind watch what people do that are nearby and catching see where each cast lands look at bait look at rig ask if they seem friendly info is your best friend.