Depth is the number one factor. Especially in spring the fish will chase bait in the upper water column. Set backs can be as little as 10' at times. You put a crank under those fish and you'll never catch them. Last spring the fish were unusually deep and and I didn't encounter many high fish. You won't see these fish on your electronics either. You just have to fish for them and see if they're up there. Second you need to be able to control your speed effectively. Some of us big boats have to put out 4 bags or more early in the year. There are a lot of good colors but fire tiger, Barbie, eriedescent, green flash, purple perch are some of my go to's. Basically whites, purples, greens and firetiger usually work just fine. Last year I started with one side bandits and one side deep husky's. Within an hour I had all bandits on and never fished any other bait until I switched to jets in May.