These are all great responses here, which all say pretty much the same thing, which should be very encouraging to you!
I have dug up more than my share of junk over the years. I find a much bigger array of junk at old homesites and farms. More tabs, caps, and foil at party places. Some of the party spots have been popular since the "olden days", before tabs, caps, or foil. The good stuff is there for the one that is willing to dig all the junk.
My way of looking at it is the same as the rest of the TNET'rs.
What you find is luck! How much you find is skill! So, the more skill you have, the luckier you can be!
The next, most important thing that you need to know, is one thing that should tie all of this together for you.
Percentages! When anyone goes out detecting, there is a likelyhood that the most common coin that will be found, is the U.S. Cent. If you were to go to an old homesite, or a farm, the bulk of the finds will be mostly iron,(provided you are hunting in a dig all mode). The most common coin found at these sites is still going to be the U.S. Cent. The percentages hold true for the party spots, picnic groves, swimming holes, etc.
Example: One of us here posts their latest finds. They went to an old picnic spot. They have found a Large Cent, a couple IH's, half a dozen Wheaties, a Buffalo and a War Nickel. We post congrats, and tell them to go back! We say; There has to be some silver there! They go back another time or two, and then they post; Finally found silver at the old picnic spot. They were playing the percentages and didn't even realize it.
I hope this makes some sense for you. Don't give up on some of those junk spots. All it means is that a lot of people use that spot.
Good luck!................HH