I live in brookville and have been punching a lot of holes this year. The shallower early ice bite has died for me. It seems recently I have to be deeper than 40 ft to start marking and catching fish. Sometimes it has been 40 ft in 60-80 ft of water. We have even got them on the bottom in 40-60 ft. It seems to me that early spring and late fall you have to be prepared to fish shallow one day and deep the next, which to me is dictated by weather and bait fish movements. In the summer time weather and water is stable and most fish in the lake are found at mostly the same depth. I will troll cranks in the summer down to 15 or 20 ft but I normally like to vertical jig deep brush. I dont use minnows so I dont know what to tell you there. I have been really getting into using spoons for crappie the past couple years with good success. They work great for fishing really deep or on days when the wind is howling and you want to keep your bait vertical. Hope this helps alittle and good luck!