Preserved Minnows Help, and some other questions

Hello all, this is my first post here so thank you for the help you have given in what I've read so far, and thank you for the help you give me.

So onto my questions, in California under my understanding we cannot use live minnows. I picked up some preserved emerald shiners in a bag because I think those would work well, but I haven't had any luck yet. For those of you that have used these, how do you rig them? The way I rigged them was hooking them through the middle of the back on a little drop shot hook, and tipped it with a patzuke fireball. Would rigging them on a jig like a soft plastic work better, or something else? Another question would be do you use crappie nibbles or the patzuke fireballs, and do you just tip the hook with them, or slide them all the way down to the bait/lure. Thank you all again, I cannot wait to read the feedback and learn more.

The preserved minnows are likely a waste of your money in my opinion.
never have got much of anything in these parts to bite them when I tried them , even the catfish seem to avoid them .
the garlic fire gel stuff is way better than the fireballs and the berkley gulp brand crappie nibbles trump both of them most of the time.
I slide my nibbles up onto the bend of hook tight to the body and sometimes put 2 on to cover the entire hook for 2 different reasons ...
1 it makes it somewhat weedless if you are light handed and the stuff you are putting it in is thick and snaggy
2 it adds more scent to the water and its more visible.
and in some cases I use slab sauce alone or in conjunction with other scents too ...
p.s. if there is any hope for the preserved minnow you need to put a jighead on and use it like a plastic body ,run the hook thru its lips and or worm it on and let it follow the jighead , hooked thru the back wont likely look right in the water for sure .

Berkeley makes Gulp minnows as well. They get torn up quickly but work well

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Berkeley makes Gulp minnows as well. They get torn up quickly but work well

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WAY better than a preserved minnow for sure , the smelt color small ones are super deadly on a collarless jighead 1/32 , they wont last for maybe 2 or 3 fish but fish will eat them up for sure , bluegill go bananas over them in these parts .

They do here as well.