When I fished on the Saginaw River, there was a guy that swore by not putting anything on the treble. He said it killed the action. Not sure if it really did or not, but he always outfished me when I had a minnow head on. Since then I have not used a minnow head, and have caught plenty of fish without. In all honesty I am not sure it matters, some days they want the head, other times they don't.