I'm not much ahead of you on the learning curve but I do read everything I can on this site.
From what I've read, I'd say they're biting now, are in shallow (<15 feet of water) and this early, use smaller stickbaits and spoons. Flatlining and planers are perfect right now while dipsies (and riggers) will come into play when they move a bit deeper, although you could keep them shallow by running them short and on mono. Braid will take them deeper than mono, wire deeper than braid and running them further out adds to the depth; seems like most just run on wire and break them out when the fish are deep enough.
The fish are being caught in the green water right now and will be in the muddy water later in the season.
Use the Search function to find more in-depth info here. The same basic questions get asked every season so there's a ton of info buried in old threads. Good luck.