As always, a most interesting post. Curious how you can differentiate between residents and roamers? Year to year, I find it next to impossible to find concentrations of fish on prior year spots and have convinced myself that they're all roamers. 😀
If you fish alone much, spot lock or anchor mode as MG calls it, is simply fantastic. It has made my fishing so much more relaxing. I can stay on fish, retie, change baits, fool with a fish, eat lunch, nap, etc, all with impunity from the wind. I'm in the 3rd season with a MG Tour Pro and it's been very good.
Had a good day despite the pesky east wind, disproving the "wind from the east, fish bite least" rule. Caught 34, broke off 1 and jumped off 5 (ugh). Water temps 61-62. Caught a few schoolers first thing in the morning on a weightless fluke but that bite fizzled pretty fast. Pounded the bank with the Leetle Ned and found them quite willing until the bite just cratered at 9:00. What triggers the whole dang creek to just stop feeding??? Lots of fish on wood cover. Scratched out a few more fishing windy banks and called it a day at 3:00 wanting to beat the forecasted rain which never happened (actually, it was nap time). 24 Spots, 9 LM, 1 SM. Biggest: 17" LM, 16" LM, 16" SM. 7 "keeps" total. I only count "score-ables". 😄 Very enjoyable day on the water and I was surprised by the almost complete lack of boat traffic. I fished four different creeks/pockets/hollows/hollers/branches and never had any company. Never did fish the main channel. I guess I was enjoying the wind protection in the pockets too much. 😉