I've been always successful at PCR at night with almost the same setup off the dock. We don't use bobbers though as you can't see them anyways and we leave the bait sitting right on the bottom but one foot off the bottom should be fine still. If you are catching walleye you might not be as deep as you think.
We use smelts but I don't see why minnows wouldn't work also as I've caught burbs with powerbaits before