you see the same thing around here where the fish will be absent on one lake while a hot bite is going on another lake just a few miles away. since the Woods is a "lake of lakes" might it be a version of the same phenomenon? that doesn't do anything to explain the cause, but it might suggest approaches.

when approaching that issue around here, people will "lake hop" until finding somewhere the fish are active. once those fish are found, it's often true that other lakes nearby with similar characteristics are also going.

if we have the luxury of multiple boats on a trip, we like to plan out a coordinated approach: each boat fishing different kinds of structure or different kinds of water to get more information more quickly. it's a version of "lake-hopping" on a big lake like the Woods. and rather than fishing the same kinds of structure over and over waiting for the fish to show up where we're fishing ("you will eat a bucktail on shallow rocks or else!"), we also plan out a run for each boat that forces us to fish different kinds of structure, depth, and water during the day - especially the first couple days of a trip. by sharing info, once someone's on fish the other boats can seek out similar areas and pick up the pattern.