I dont normally buy any minnows neither, Im usually the first boat in the water at wild wings each year, I go straight out and shut er down, I use the purple hair jig three quarter ounce always no bigger no smaller, I cast a ways away from the boat, hold the pole fairly straight up and down give it a pop and feel for the fish to pick it up as it falls back down, keeping a tight line, drift is critical must go fairly slow sometimes using 4 drift socks as i have a big boat, I just work the jig back to the boat, however getting to the boat without a fish is real hard if you know what your doing practice makes perfect. All the reefs in the western basin holds fish in the spring they are the spawning grounds, jacks will be first, the hawgs stage out in deeper water till the right temp and at night they slip in lay there eggs and are gone, you will sometimes catch one of these beasts, but mostly male fish and this year they should be real big, I almost bet they will be in the 5-9 pound range this year most of em......hope this helps....tight lines