Raw69 -

Occasionally, I am the voice of dissent. This is one of those times.

All last year, I fished a simple pine squirrel streamer ( sculpin / baitfish ) with no eyes, no weight and no flash. Browns, bows, cutts, cuttbows and brookies all took it aggressively and without hesitation ( guessing from the way they smacked it ).

I've also fished double bunnies and thunder creek style baitfish patterns without eyes, and don't think that adversely affected the "catch rate," which is a pretty difficult thing to assess.

Heard any number of discussions on this subject, and I usually seem to be in the minority, but I'd rather listen to the fish and be guided accordingly. Not saying streamers with eyes wouldn't have done as well, maybe they would do better, but I'm all for simple and a "less is more" approach, given any consistent favorable reaction by the fish.

Paul makes an interesting point that mirrors my experience - baitfish don't bob along, they swim a pretty level plane wherever they are in the water column ( or so it seems to me ). So I fish unweighted baitfish patterns off a sinking line with a short steady strip and let them keep an even keel.

John