Wichita,
I have been using Rosey reds for the last couple years, your observations match mine exactly. It seems they outperform the regular fathead minnows by at least 5 to 1. I purchase mine from Fast Eddies bait at Little Johnathan. I think the color and their ability to stay alive much longer are the reasons for their success. In the 3rd week of March we fished them and I had several stay alive for hours when hooked thru the lips. Unfortunately the crappie were in lockjaw mode when we were there. I stumbled on them several years back when they were out of regular minnows. We slayed them that day and that other boat with us fished exactly the same places, same depth and only caught 3. We gave them some and they ended up with 30 fish in a little over 5 hours. Now we dont hit the water without them.