Nathan, for 30+ years my 1st trip of the summer is always with a group of 5 or 6 (two of us are from the original 1979 group) and we always go for one week early in the season - sometime from the opening week to the week of Memorial Day. We haven't bought a minnow for the last 20 years. Two flats of crawlers for six guys, and half the 2nd flat is usually left in camp when we leave for someone in the following week to use. We do use cranks a lot (trolling), but regardless of early or late Spring, the crawlers work fine on jigs, on spinner rigs, and under slip bobbers. Beside the cost, it's often tough to keep minnows alive when you're driving 45 minutes to an hour to get to the back lake where you'll be spending the day in the sun. We just don't bother with minnows anymore.
Of course, . . . . that's just my $.02 worth.
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"It is what it is." - prov1800
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