Ok.... We got to get you catching fish so your GF won't think you're a helpless goober....I don't know your lake, but speck fishing 101 will work anywhere if the lake holds fish. You can't go wrong with a gold hook and a minner drifting. Try splitting the water column....6' deep = fish 3' deep. If I'm fishing with minners on a just a hook I like to hook them through the meaty part of the back and try to use med to large minners. Just let that booger do the work for you. Now jigging and fishing pads is a little different. I like at least a 10 to 14' pole.... Any jig should work....I use a shinee hinee sometimes tipped with a minner. What I like to do is move the bait in one direction and very gently raise the pole up and down about two or three inches as I move it.... Then I go back in the opposite direction doing the same thing. Dipping the pads will take some practice. Don't give up!
Micah