Casting is effective under a variety of conditions.  It may even be your best option when fish are extremely shallow, relating to thick cover, spooky, or off feed.

Casting also tends to be more exciting than trolling, because you’re constantly doing something with your hands, aggressively involved in the process of retrieving and feeling changes in lure motion, bottom type, cover thickness—and strikes—rather than watching and waiting for a rod to bend in a rod holder.

There’s more to successful casting, however, than imparting the same lift-drop motion to your jig or lure all day or the same steady retrieve rate to your crankbait.  Matching tactics to conditions requires not only choosing an effective presentation but also fine-tuning it to the location, depth, available cover, and fish mood.