I’ll probably make a few enemies among the so-called experts for this one … but just think about it for a minute:
Look at most fish and you start to wonder why magazine articles tell you to drift your bait on the very bottom of a stream or lake. Go ahead, open your freezer and unwrap that salmon, walleye or rainbow … if you were so lucky this season as to actually have caught one.

Because of where their eyes are located, most fish simply can't look down. Their eyes are above their “cheeks.” There is a bulge below their eyeballs. So a fly, bait or lure drifted below the fish may as well be drifted through your bathtub.

My buddy Kirk Deeter at Field & Stream magazine snorkeled a few streams and watched rainbow and brown trout as a friend presented fly after fly to them. They wouldn’t move more than an inch or two for a drifted nymph. My theory: it’s because they didn’t see it.

Now go back to that fish again. Hold it at eye level and it’s clear that a fish’s field of view is generally above, to the sides, and to a limited degree straight ahead. So it makes sense that a lure drifting through their lines of sight a little bit off the bottom - would get their attention.

Maybe you use less weight, maybe you retrieve your spinner faster. A bobber setup might be right for your situation. However you do it, put your lure in line with the fish's sightline and you might "see" more hookups.

Oh, and now that your fish is thawed, I recommend a nice dill sauce and red potatoes.