The fish that you are talking about seeing suspended 25-30 feet deep arent really good targets for the FNF. So being the livebait "cheater" that I am I fish the FNF to the fish that are in the 8-12 foot zone and down line a 3" alewife with 4lb test and a splitshot JUST BIG ENOUGH to keep the bait down there. Its the perfect technique for both methods, you fish the fly slow enough that the live bait rods have plenty of time to soak in the deeper fishs face. This works for smallies for sure, but Im betting that most of those fish I see on the screen that deep turn out to be big obese spotted bass.
And if you cant get shad or keep them alive, small shiners will work on certain days.