I'm a big fan of the "fish just move" theory, but there's a lot happening under the water that we can't see, even with all of the super fancy sonar stuff available now.
So you say it's been "dead" for about 6 years? When was TS Isabel? I think these big storms we get change the bottom so much that fish either dig it or they don't. And when the bottom changes, currents change, bait acts differently, etc.