Your question is kind of hard to answer. I think it takes a combination of the 2. The biggest thing to me is ( like Stormcloud said) it takes experience= time on the water. You need to take information you can glean from here pick a tecneque that seems to be working for others at the time. Set up for that and fish it until you are pretty proficient at it. Time on the water will eventually lead you to patterns at different times of year, different conditions and things like that. Like right now we are faced with higher than usual water levels for this time of year, higher air/water temps than normal for this time of year plus more current being drawn than normal for this time of year. So then you have to ask yourself where would they normally be this time of year and in that area you have to ask your self where would they go with the extended range they now have. Then what would be best way to attack them. Experience, Experiance.