When a pattern develops, all the baits are dumped into that hot zone. It pays also to hang a bag of chum over the side. Frozen blocks of ground fish tucked into mesh laundry bags are far more effective and efficient than chumming with whole pieces of shrimp-boat cull or cut baitfish. Time between strikes can be passed throwing plugs or spoons. I like to make occasional tosses with an oversized topwater plug.
Strikes are absolutely vicious, like somebody dropped a washing machine into the water.
Other fishermen troll parallel to the beach either with natural baits, swimming plugs or jigs. On those boats, one crewman watches the baits and another looks for weed lines, current rips or schools of baitfish. Rather than running wide open between spots with lines in the cockpit, trolling maximizes fishing time. In every nearshore fishing situation, live bait trumps all dead naturals and anything made of metal or plastic. Rather than worry about whether or not a marina might have live baits each morning, you're better off catching their own.