@justin85
Was going to PM ya but figured throw it on here since its that time of year, and in my own head I’m damned good at sucker fishing 
Can anyone bring any setup to a river with a can of worms and hooks and catch suckers, absolutely. On cold days like this, or under not so desirable conditions you really got to fine tune to be successful, and IMO that’s what angling is about. Outsmarting the fish when they really don’t want to be.
Any rod under M will do, preferably something with a softer tip for bite indicator such as a ML-L is perfect. UL can be fun, but its the river and I just don’t enjoy battling a 7# carp for 10 minutes which will happen, so something to handle bigger fish if, and when they bite is important. But having a nice flexible tip for bite indication is important. I run bells on mine when looking over the river, pondering life, otherwise an acute eye can be needed.
Line is mono for me, just like rigging for walleyes where I feel the sensitivity can actually be hurtful, as in the fish feel you as you feel them. Braid works, just make sure to run at most a 6# leader, 4# if you can get away with it. Leader length depends on clarity. This is underlooked a lot IMO. Can you see at least 18″, leader should be at least 8-10″ long. Shorter leads for dirtier water, have done leads up to 18″ long in super clear water with success but feel 10-12″ usually covers it. If you have line with a titch of green to it seems to help. Stren magnathin is good lead material bc of the color, but this is where maybe I’m overthinking it.
Suckers suck in blow out(obviously), so I went to a hair rig. Kind of a PIA to pretie and keep the worm from squirming up the line but it works well. Resorted to my lazy man hair rig, bc sucker fishing should be as easy and lazy as possible. Tie a #6 Owner mosquito hook(available at Fleet farm for sure, might try a #4 this year) best hook for suckers bar none, and leave a bit of tag end on. Take crawler and hook it in middle and thread it on hook as far as you can go, then push all the way up so worm is on the line, leaving the hook completely exposed. Got so sick and tired of the different style hooks, the constant ticks and light bites with no hookups I kept experimenting until I found what worked.
Some days they prefer the head portion of the crawler, others the tail. The head usually wins out most days, and make sure to keep those crawlers plump and juicy!
Waters are pretty darned cold yet for any good sucker action. All the creeks and waters coming in have different characteristics. Know what kind of watershed they are coming from, what kind of nutrients may be getting dumped in, and more importantly the temps of the water. Small creeks going through mud bottoms that are exposed to sunlight will warm up the fastest on chilly but sunny days. Where the larger creeks may take some time to warm up. Don’t forget those drainage ditches and tubes after a nice warm spring rain, especially if that sun pops out, warming up all that runoff from the blacktop and concrete can be a short-lived sucker(and other fish) magnet.
When they are picky and weary this early in the season I swear they will sit on the baits. They suck it in, see one lil tap on the rod, then nothing. It can sit for 10min plus and nothing, then you reel it in and fish on. That is why its important to be vigilant this time of year, they never swallow it to a point of endangering the fish, just is lost time trying to catch another! Also this is why its really important for that hair rig, it hooks itself blowing it out so no hookset is really needed.
Any inlet up from St.Anthony falls has its hot times. Shingle creek stands out to me, but gets crowded in a hurry. Drainpipe on the east side just north of 694 can be stuffed with carp come spring, as well as the lil inlet across the river by the fishing pier. The inlet across from boom island can be good to. Haven’t tried Rice Creek but the lil creek Coon? has its times. Further north the creek that come out the mill pond in champlin can produce, Elm Creek?, and of course the Rum. Although most spots on Rum that put out are in a boat for me, the mouth has never really done much. Walk the shoreline up from the mouth and really cast the bait as far as you can, the deeper channel that the fish follow up and down is on that side.
Key, as been said is finding the holes, heck not even holes just depressions in the waters. If everything is 3-4′, look for 5-6′, makes a huge difference. This is where polarized glasses come in handy, look for the darker spots. If you can, elevation can be helpful, climbing a tree works really well. 
Think ive burned enough of your time, any other ?’s shoot me a PM.
PS, if you catch any bullheads later in the evening in these creeks, show up later with some cutbait and bigger hooks, you will be surprised what can come out of water 10′ wide 
hope you get on them soon. As you can tell by the responses, once you get on a run, you are hooked for life. You’ll look forward to it every spring.