Spider rigging has become pretty easy for me. I don't use the longer rods. I use 8 - 12ft rods and about a month ago I added double bases on my front deck so I can fish with two people up front. I usually fish with my wife but our 15 month old don't last very long in the boat. It's not enough room for him to run, plus he loves the mark button on the depth finder. I have tried several different options for bait. The best so far has been a jig tipped with minnow or a jig tipped with minnow tipped with crappie nibble. I have tried just jig and just a gold hook and sometimes just the gold hook works as good as anything.